Keep refreshed and get a glimpse of Japanese high school life with these charming bottle designs.

Yoghurt-based soft drink Calpis is, for many Japanese people, a beloved summer drink. Sure, for some people, a yoghurt-based drink doesn’t sound particularly appealing, especially when paired with a name that sounds like bovine urine.

But Calpis remains popular in Japan and has been for over 100 years, with the company constantly coming up with fresh and creative collaborations.

This year, Calpis has released limited edition summer Calpis Water bottles, with three unique designs all featuring charming illustrations of high school kids and their after-school life. But there’s also a mysterious instruction: “Once you finish the drink, a new illustration will appear.” What is this, Alice in Wonderland?

▼ Despite the dreary weather, it is in fact summer here in Japan.

Then again, eagle eyed readers may have noticed that the illustrations look a little… one sided. Who is the girl with the saxophone waving to? Is she just reaching out to gently touch the yoghurt-y beverage? Why is the boy just standing there, scratching his head? Let’s get drinking and find out!

▼ As promised, finishing the drink lets you see the whole picture (literally).

▼ The saxophone girl is having a jam on the rooftop with a fellow brass band member.

▼ Two girls are cooling off by splashing in the ocean.

▼ Finally, a young couple are walking home together.

Of course, if you’re a fan of spoiling yourself beforehand, you can just turn the bottle around before you drink it to see what kind of picture will appear. But where’s the fun in that?!

The person responsible for the beautiful drawings on the bottles is artist Rei Kato, who posted the full illustrations on their Twitter account.

Rei is no stranger to working with Calpis, as fans of the milky beverage may remember Rei’s drawings from the bottle designs last year, to commemorate 100 years of Calpis.

Japanese netizens were enamoured with the charming designs of the bottles.

“This has got summer written all over it!”
“Wow, they’re even practicing social distancing on the drink bottle itself.”
“Ahhh… so this is youth.”
“When I was in school, they hadn’t made Calpis Water yet. I made my own by just watering down regular Calpis. Calpis Water really reminds me of my youth, just like the illustrations do.”
“It’s like a family friendly version of those cups from McDonalds!”

If you’re not a fan of straight Calpis but still want to see these bottles at work, here’s a Calpis hack you may enjoy!

Related: Jin
Images: ©SoraNews24
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