I'm more than a little sure that I made a mistake here and this is what I actually drank (well, tried) and meant.

If I was correct then, and it wasn't Yakult, maybe the product was repackaged for importation into America. Regardless, in the 19 years since, I have had this, and it's fine. Perhaps the ones I bought in the states had just gone off big time stylie.

It is entirely possible that there was a very-similar competing product that didn't last the 19 years 'tween then and now, and isn't (seemingly) findable via Google.