Kirin's new tea brand this summer has a name that I really dig: Ururu cha (潤る茶).

Ururu! A new word invented for the occasion, a Dawn-like sudden relative of such real modern words as uruosu (provide moisture to), a novel cadence of ancient tones implying hitherto unheard-of thirst-quenching abilities that are nevertheless fully compatible with wind chimes, cicada-fancying, and any other national summer tradition you might care to name.

Did they purposefully model it on old bigrade verb endings? Did they create it anew by adding the verb ending -ru to the stem uru, like modern creations takuru (take a taxi) and makuru (eat at McD_____ds)? Did they start with Urueru cha (潤える茶) and remove the え for design reasons? Or Uruu cha (潤う茶) and reject it as too close to mercenary uru (sell)—or too thinly /r/'d, unable to evoke words like urara (clear skies)? Were they inspired by the Japanese pronunciation of Uluru, which achieved fame here as the titular-in-the-original Center of the World in Socrates in Love? So many possibilities! (All right, it probably wasn't Uluru.)

Nor miss the commercial, which features some of the finest vintage 80s fantasy-girlfriend summer horseplay you're likely to see outside of... uh, any other commercial on Japanese TV between June and September.