Japan likes a good fad diet as much as any developed nation. As the U.S. has nibbled its way through the grapefruit diet, the Atkins diet and the Paleo diet, Japan has sampled the konnyaku diet, the morning banana diet and the hot pepper diet. The next trend in get-thin-quick schemes appears to be the enzyme diet (酵素ダイ).
There are dozens of varieties of kouso (enzyme) drinks, many packaged in tall glass bottles and labeled with ornate kanji that make them look like a bit like fancy liqueurs. There are enzyme drinks and tablets that tout natural ingredients such as papayas, brown rice and yeast. There are other drinks with vaguely sci-fi names like Ultraenzyme, Cosmic Enzyme and Neoenzyme.