From across the Pacific, the state of democracy in the US is pretty depressing no matter what your politics. Respect for the truth or for the facts seem to be in short supply, corporations are people and unlimited contributions by individuals, organizations and corporations is considered free speech.
There is one silver lining in the form of transparency laws. Groups like OpenSecrets.org do a wonderful job of putting publicly available information up for all to see. I thought it might be interesting to show some of the spending of the top US food companies running up to the election.
For the record, I am not am not anti-industry or anti-big corporation, and I realize these companies have to play the game or suffer the consequences. The system is the problem. However, it is instructive to know how some of the choices we all make as consumers ends up affecting the political process.
Another good site with good information is http://vote.sigfig.com/. Anyone interested should visit that site also, but it is much more interactive and I was looking for static visuals.
I will be going down this list of top food processors in the US.
http://www.foodprocessing.com/top100/index.html
Politics in Japan has its own set of unique and troubling problems. Such openness here would not solve those problems, but would be a nice start.
This is the link for the charts shown above.
http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000200&cycle=A
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Kirin's Koi Aji 濃い味 3rd category beer claims to be Japan's No. 1 low calorie beer. It contains 19 kcal/ 100 ml, 2.5-3.5% alcohol, 0% sugar and a rich taste due to a special Kirin manufacturing process and the use of caramel malt and fine aroma hops. I like the photo of the somen noodles piled high. This is apt, because somen noodles are a mouth watering summer treat, but are nevertheless relatively healthy and would go well with a low calorie beer.
http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/koiaji/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
This limited edition KitKat flavor looks Western, but Japanese really love strawberry cakes.
http://d.nestle.jp/kitkat/limited/kk_mini_strawberrycake_confiture_13.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
With the bad economic times cutting into people's disposable income, so Japanese businessmen are - shockingly - eating and drinking more often at home. This offering from Kirin tries to play into this trend by promoting a beer which is good with meals. The English copy on the can pretty much tells it all "For your happy home. A delicious, malty brew brings smiles to your table." The Japanese product name 麦のごちそう translates loosely as "taking a meal with barley". It is also notable that even in English this is not called a beer, but instead a brew. That is because it is what I tend to call a 3rd category beer, which is no legally beer in Japan and is thus subject to a much reduced tax rate.
http://www.kirin.co.jp/brands/muginogochisou/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
McDonald's will also begin selling a limited edition Big Chicken Rich Cheese sandwich today which in addition to a juicy chicken patty, features two thick slices of cheese (one cheddar, one gouda), lettuce, fried onion and Dijon mustard.
http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/campaign/chicken/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Cousino-Macul Wine of Chile go through Kikkoman in Japan.
http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/wine/cousinomacul/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
From tomorrow, McDonald's will start selling a limited edition Teriyaki Chicken Filet-o sandwich which features a teriyaki coating with sweet and spicy soy sauce base.
http://www.mcdonalds.co.jp/campaign/chicken/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
Kikkoman is selling a Del Monte branded hot vegetable juice in PET bottles. It is not sold hot, but formulated to taste good even when heated. It can be consumed as is, or used for cooking. It contains tomatoes, carrots, pumpkin, celery, cabbage, bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus. 温野菜、キッコーマン
http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/delmonte/onyasai/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
This is a pear juice soda drink make from Hita City, Oita Prefecture pears. It is regionally branded as "The Oita". 日田の梨ソーダ
http://www.jre-water.com/release/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
This is a drink introduced earlier this year. POM is the brand used for fruit juices from Ehime Prefecture. This is a mikan (Japanese mandarin orange) jelly drink sold in JR East Water vending machines.
http://www.jre-water.com/release/index.html
Photo is a web capture for explanatory purposes, copyright belongs to the company.
