Salt Lychee Candy in cute package

Today, the Japan Meteorological Agency announced that the rainy season is over in the Tokai district (including Hamamatsu). It was fine and I went out to buy some foods early in the morning. It took me more than 30 minutes to get to a supermarket MaxValu, which is situated in the opposite direction to the downtown where two corona clusters broke out last week. When I returned home, I sweated a little though it was still 8:30. It has been getting hotter recently, and I saw people walking without a mask, even in the supermarket. As mask wearing is required by stores including supermarkets, customers should follow the rule. Even if mask wearing is said to increase the risk of heat stroke in summer, I don't think it occurs in stores that are cooled with air-conditioners.

Last year, I introduced salt candies that are said to prevent heat stroke. In summer, you can find several kinds of such candies in supermarkets, convenience stores, and drugstores. Today, I ate one of them for the first time this year. It was Salt Lychee Candy sold at a FamilyMart.

The package is palm-sized, and there were eight candies inside. It is convenient to carry in a bag or eat alone. The candies are vegan and contain concentrated lychee juice.

I expected that it was salty, but it wasn’t. The candies were a little sour and had an exotic flavor. As real lychees are difficult to find in Japan (at least in Hamamatsu), I have eaten them only twice before (one or two at a time) and can’t tell the difference of the flavors between the fresh fruits and candies. Anyway, I was relieved to confirm the candies don’t taste bad.

One month ago, I sent this Salt Lychee Candy and other things to my friend in Sweden. Since they had an extraordinarily high temperature in June, I was worried that it would become a hot summer. I chose this salt candy because the package was cute but never tasted it myself before.

Fortunately, it wasn’t so hot in July in Lapland where my friend lives, but Sweden has problems concerning covid-19. A few days ago, a Swedish mathematician Marcus Carlsson had a talk with Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang and uploaded it on YouTube with the following title:

On Pandemic Management, Dynamic Democracy and How to Implement Social distancing in Intimate bars :)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOfgquh6UPY).

Taiwan is a country that has successfully controlled covid-19 with rapid and effective measures including the mask map launched by Audrey Tang. This video was eye-opening and informative, and I was very impressed by Audrey Tang's intelligence and fluent English. I hope more and more people will access it from Sweden and other countries as well.