The Garigari-kun Experiment and the Pre-Cooling Push

With intense heat gripping Japan, a new approach to staying cool is gaining attention: eating an ice pop before you step outside. Akagi Nyugyo, the Saitama-based company behind the iconic Garigari-kun popsicle, has been running a campaign called “Pre-Cooling with Garigari-kun!” since May. The idea is simple — lower your body temperature ahead of time so that you handle the heat better once you're in it.

To back the campaign, the company ran a controlled experiment in April with 61 men and women aged 20–59. Participants walked for 10 minutes in a 30°C room, once after eating a Garigari-kun and once without. Afterwards, 59% said they genuinely felt their body temperature rise more slowly after eating the ice candy.

The concept of pre-cooling is not new in sports science, but it remains largely unknown among the public. Akagi Nyugyo’s survey revealed that only 31.1% of people always take some heat measure before going out, and just 4.9% actively cool their body before exercise. Awareness of the term “pre-cooling” itself sat at only 9.8%.

Why Granular Ice Pops Work Better Than Cold Drinks

Ice Candy's Cooling Edge Over Cold Drinks

Professor Kazunobu Okazaki of Osaka Metropolitan University, who advised Japan’s middle- and long-distance runners on heat management at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, explained why an ice pop may outperform a cold drink. “When ice melts inside the body, it absorbs heat — that’s a more efficient cooling process than drinking chilled liquid,” he said. Garigari-kun’s finely crushed ice particles, he noted, are particularly effective because they travel further into the digestive tract, pulling heat away from the core over a longer path.

A Gap Between Need and Habit

Despite a rising number of heatstroke emergencies, preventive cooling habits are still rare. The fact that fewer than one in ten people even recognize the term “pre-cooling” suggests a large untapped audience for simple, low-cost interventions. Akagi Nyugyo’s promotional push — “Take a crunch before you go out!” — is trying to close that gap by framing an ice candy as a pre-departure routine, much like applying sunscreen or grabbing a water bottle.

How to Work Pre-Cooling Into Your Summer Routine

  • If you’re heading out for a walk, errands, or exercise on a hot day, try eating a finely crushed ice pop (like Garigari-kun) 15–20 minutes beforehand. The granular ice can cool your core more effectively than a cold drink, according to Osaka Metropolitan University’s Professor Okazaki.
  • Only 4.9% of people in the company’s survey cool their body before exercise, so making this a deliberate step before any outdoor activity could give you a head start that most people skip.
  • Combine internal pre-cooling with external measures — a hat, light clothing, and plenty of water — to get the full benefit of a lower starting body temperature.