Domo arigato 7-Eleven

With the weather warmed up, I thought to myself "A Slurpee sounds good right now."

Well, that and swimming in a nice, cool pool.

But, for those of us pool-challenged folk (or those with pools who are thirsty) there is a new promotion at 7-Eleven for Halloween surrounding the Japanese character of Domo.

For those not aware of Domo, he is a little brown monster with a wide open mouth with pointy teeth. Some might remember him as the mascot of Target's Halloween promotion last year.

Domo, who is the official mascot of the NHK television station in Japan, is pretty popular. In my trip to Tokyo in 2008 I saw plenty of examples of how much people love him. When walking into a few Riverside 7-Eleven stores, I noticed that Domo isn't hard to spot. He's on posters advertising everything from coffee to brownies to hot dogs.

But, it's the Domo Slurpees that are the main selling point. The flavor of the Domo Slurpee is "Fuji Frost," which is kind of funny considering the character of Domo has a strong dislike of apples.

The taste of the Domo Slurpee is good. It tastes like apples. It is sweet, but not overpowering. Think of it like the Baby Bear from "Goldilocks" of Slurpees... just right. There is a hint of an aftertaste that does stick with you a bit. Not necessarily a bad thing, but enough to think "Hmmm, interesting."

As part of the promotion the stores are also selling special Domo slurpee cups. The cups are $1.99 and come in three different designs. This might seem to be a little pricey, but the cups are made out of a durable plastic. I have a few from the "Terminator Salvation" promotion in May that are still good and have held up after dozens of dishwasher attacks. Plus, at 22 ounces, they are the perfect size for a regular drinking glass. If you don't mind serving killer machine or Japanese monster cups to guests.

For children (or curious anime loving adults) there are also special Domo straws for sale that come with four different Domo figurines; Hip-Hop Domo, Lucha Domo, candy obsessed Domo and headphones wearing Domo. Each straw is also $1.99. A unique feature of these straws is a plastic scoop at the bottom to help shovel that pesky last bit up Slurpee up.

And for the non-Slurpee loving crowd, 7-Eleven is also selling a small Domo coffee cup for 99 cents.

According to the 7-Eleven Web site, Domo is sticking around until Nov. 15 or while supplies last.

For more on Domo, check out http://www.domonation.com/.

Check out the Domo getting a brainfreeze from drinking Slurpees video, funny stuff.