For the second time since coming to Japan I've unfortunately developed a bad case of the flu this week. Since in Japan there's really no such thing as a "sick day", I've forced my body against its will to go to school each morning and then spend the day suffering in the freezing cold staff room. Why is the staff room freezing cold you ask? Well, because since it's April it is time to turn off the heat in the school! Last year this predetermined off date for the heat was no big deal, but this year winter has hung on quite a big longer than usual. It probably doesn't matter too much that its so frikken' cold in there because the stability of my body temperature has lately been comparable to that of a menopausal woman. While I'm still not sure what to do about the on again off again fevers, I know exactly what to do about the nagging cough and soar throat. It's time to break out the Canadian secret weapon against the common cold, Buckley's Mixture.


For those of you who aren't in the know, Buckley's is the most popular cough syrup in Canada thanks in part to it's ingenius slogan "It tastes aweful, and it works". It really does taste aweful too. Try to imagine downing liquified pine needs mixed with Vicks VapoRub. Just smelling the stuff is enough to bring tears to the eye. Whether it actually works or is just so much overhyped garbage is a matter of opinion I guess. Until it was recently sold to some Swiss drug company, Buckley's was Canada's last family owned and operated pharmaceutical company. The recipe for this stuff dates back to 1919, a time when selling snake oil was still all the rage. To this day Buckley's contains camphor, which supposedly is poisonous when ingested and can cause seizures, mental confusion, irritability, and neuromuscular hyperactivity. I tried to find some research that either supports or refutes the claims made by Buckley's but sadly to no avail.


So what's my opinion? Well I've only tried it a few times, but it does seem to make my cough go away for a while. Perhaps the huge shock it gave to my system was enough to distract my body's pain receptors for a short while. I guess the jury's still out, but I do know there are a lot of Canadians out there like our very own Hugh that swear by the stuff. Since it's the only cough medecine I have, and I can't read the labels of anything at the drug stores in Noheji I better hope it works 'cause it's just about all I got.