Alcohol can certainly accompany moments of conviviality or moments of relaxation, but above all it poses public health and safety problems. However, liqueurs and spirits also allow the State to tax the sale of bottles.
However, the drop in alcohol consumption seen in recent years in Japan is contributing to the finances of an already struggling archipelago. The administration did not hesitate to use an unusual lever to try to get out of the economic trap. With “Saké Viva!”, the National Tax Agency has just launched a campaign aimed at promoting alcohol consumption among its population.
The process is simple: it’s about targeting the young – that is, the 20-39 age group – probing their ideas for bringing new popularity to this declining practice. Those interested have until September 9 to submit their suggestions, after which the finalists will be invited to a gala in Tokyo on November 10. And the State undertakes to market the winner’s proposals.
Why does alcohol drink the cup in Japan?
The objectives pursued by “Saké Viva!” are the following according to the official website of the initiative, broadcast by the guardian: first, “offer new products and new designs” and new ways to promote alcohol consumption, especially at home.
An interest in domestic consumption that is explained by one of the main origins of the phenomenon according to the Japanese government. He thinks the pandemic and its lockdowns have slowly discouraged people from indulging in a drink now and then.
In addition to this very concrete factor, Japan also points to the influence of new lifestyles in society where alcohol is no longer celebrated as it might have been in the past. At the other end of the spectrum, population aging also appears to play a role, financial times further noting that over the past eight years, the portion of Japanese aged 65 or older has exceeded a quarter of the general population.
Decrease in alcohol consumption
The figures, reported again by the guardian, are in any case unappealable. In 1995, a Japanese drank an average of 100 liters of alcohol per year. He only drinks 75 liters (for comparison, in 2018, as we mention in this article, a Frenchman drank 80 liters per year on average).
It is beer that has particularly suffered from the trend. Its sales fell 20% in a year between 2019 and 2020 in Japan. The drop is nine points -in the same interval- for the sale of cans, according to the famous brewer Kirin, who set the number of bottles of beer consumed per person on average in 2020 at 55.
The economic impact has of course followed this diet: taxes on alcohol represented 1.7% of national tax collection in 2020 compared to 3% in 2011 and 5% in 1980. A fact that does not take away from the anecdote of a country hit by a huge financial blow. disaster.
In fact, you don’t have to drink to keep your head spinning. The Japanese budget had a deficit of 48 trillion yen in 2020, or 259% of its GDP or the equivalent of 10 trillion euros according to the echoes which describes this debt ratio as a ratio “that no developed nation had yet experienced in modern history”. The economic newspaper also points out that the Japanese deficit is four times the French overdraft.
bitter potion
To the great ills, then, the great remedies. But the potion is very bitter for part of the Japanese, according to the BBC, which ensures that “Saké Viva!” provoked mixed reactions, to say the least. However, ideas begin to emerge that are supposed to make you want to have a drink again. Like the one that tries to take advantage of the virtual universe of the metaverse to entrust the role of hostess or waitress to famous actresses.
The Ministry of Health, for its part, tries to keep a clear mind: it has limited itself to hoping that the campaign will also be an opportunity to remind everyone that it is advisable to drink “reasonably”.
Source: BFM TV
