J-Scent: Ramune

Your Ideal Anime Childhood, Bottled Like Wearable Soda

Ramune (the Japanese soda with the marble in the bottle) is such a Japanese pop culture icon, that I’m surprised no brand has captured its scent before.

Originally sold in 1884, the light, fresh lemon and lime flavored soda has become a symbol of summer and childhood in Japan. J-Scent pays tribute to it in this beautifully subtle perfume of the same name. It’s an impressionistic take on the soda’s crystal clear liquid, housed in a crystal clear bottle, with its signature crystal clear marble in the neck. J-Scent’s fragrance presents just as glossy and crystalline.

Infused with notes of lemon, water lily and shimmering aldehydes, this is far from an immature novelty scent. It’s a perfect summer day distilled into a wearable version of the perfumer’s cherished memories.

A lot of people’s first encounter with Japanese culture comes from anime, so if you have those colorful, romanticized notions of daily life in Japan, you'll be absolutely dazzled by this scent. It’s every one of those scenes turned into smell: bright lemon-sunshine, the clearest blue sea and grassy neighborhood gardens dotted with delicate flowers. It’s fun and laughter, idealized friendships, and the safety of family and community.

I especially love this scent on days when I want to feel youthful, casual and fun. A cool red lip tint, chunky acrylic candy-colored accessories, sneakers and baggy jeans—if you can get yourself an actual bottle of Ramune and a cheap bowl of ramen while wearing that, then all the better for making a fun weekend afternoon.

J-Scent’s Ramune transforms the carefree joy of being young into something wearable—a bottled memory that reminds us life’s simplest pleasures can be the most profound.