Poison and cure

There is a new ager I like to listen to sometimes. (She is merged in my mind with the elegant demon lady from the second season of True Blood. This makes me like them both better.) She says that native Americans say that whenever there is a poison in the forest, the antidote is "within a certain number of feet." (This strikes me a little funny. Do people of the forests measure in feet?)

Pedantic quibbles aside, it's an interesting thought. And borne out in the urban jungle of Tokyo with this: a turmeric dispenser two feet in front of a bar.

Turmeric? It is common knowledge that turmeric is the end-all of hangover remedies. It turns out that the "ukon" in this power drink was not paint thinner, but turmeric. (See how much less interesting things become when you look them up?) This is why some salarymen swear by curry as hangover food, and why DHC sells bags of turmeric capsules to support the health of "those who have many occasions to drink."

One clear plastic ball with a variety of turmeric tablets is ￥200, and, depending on your circumstances, either the most fantastic or the most disappointing thing you ever got out of a gumball machine.

Surely, the maenad would approve.
Incidentally, "ukon" is usually written phonetically, but it has at least two kanji variations, and they are both amazing.　欝金　鬱金