Marble-Stoppered Soda · Festival Favorite
Ramune
Photo: Oleg Yunakov / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
You open it by pushing a glass marble down into the bottle's neck instead of using a bottle opener — and the marble stays rattling inside as you drink.
Ramune is a lightly carbonated, usually lemon-lime flavored soda sold in a distinctive glass Codd-neck bottle sealed by a marble held in place by the drink's own pressure. It's a fixture at Japanese summer festivals and street-food stalls, sold alongside yakisoba and takoyaki.
Why it's made this way: The bottle design dates back to 19th-century British soda technology, but Japan kept making and selling it long after the rest of the world moved on, turning it into a nostalgic symbol of Japanese matsuri (festival) culture.
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