HIKAKIN Unboxes ONICHA Barley Tea — One Bottle Was a Soba Broth Prank

HIKAKIN sent a pre-release custom package of his barley tea brand “ONICHA” — one of the three bottles was secretly soba broth, leading to an involuntary taste test, followed by a conversation about whether Japanese radio and podcasting are effectively already dead.

• HIKAKIN sent a pre-release batch of “ONICHA” in a custom package
• ONICHA uses only barley — no sugar, no preservatives, zero caffeine; manufactured by Cheerio
• One of the three bottles was a prank fill of soba broth; he drank it enthusiastically and choked
• He noticed the missing best-before date stamp on the cap, but only after the fact
• Argument made that Japanese podcasting has already gone mainstream under different names (YouTube, etc.) — the word “podcast” is just a labeling problem
• Radio listenership surveys still run on postcard submissions, which he reads as proof the business model is broken
• Social game companies cut New Year TV ad spend after ROI measurement showed it wasn’t working

2026-04-20 · Watch on YouTube

Japanese page: HIKAKINのONICHA開封、1本がそばつゆだった