Japan’s tax agency encourages young population to drink more alcohol

Japan wants its young adults to drink more alcohol and have a more positive perception of liquor to help boost the economy as it attempts to overcome a sobering population crisis exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

The Japanese tax agency has announced a national “business contest” that seeks to promote alcohol drinking in its younger demographic called “Sake Viva!”.

The campaign seeks to urge youngsters to come up with business ideas that can help shoot up demand for Japanese liquor of all kinds, including sake, shochu, awamori, beer, whiskey and wine among others.

The campaign is the National Tax Agency’s “plan that contributes to revitalising the liquor industry and solving problems”.

Under the campaign, people between 20-39 years of age have been asked to come up with innovations for new services and promotion methods that could reinvigorate demand for alcohol.

People can bring in new proposals of products and designs targeting new lifestyles and changes in taste, which were impacted by a slew of lockdowns and Covid restrictions in the last two years, according to the contest’s page.

There is no entry fee to enrol for the competition, which also asks people to suggest new sales methods that can use artificial intelligence, the metaverse and geographical indications to help improve beverage brand value.

Japan’s local alcohol market has suffered a multipronged setback as it faces an older demographic and declining birth rates, according to the organisers. The pandemic also delivered a knock-out punch to an already shrinking market, it explained.

“The domestic alcoholic beverage market is shrinking due to demographic changes such as the declining birthrate and ageing population, and lifestyle changes due to the impact of the new coronavirus infection,” the organisers said.

“In this project, by asking young people to propose their own business plans, we will promote the development and promotion of Japanese alcoholic beverages to young people, and at the same time aim to revitalise the industry by announcing excellent plans (sic),” it added.

Finalists in the competition will be selected by 27 September, which will lead to another brushup round in October. Results of this unique project are expected to be announced on 10 November in Tokyo, organisers pointed out.

Data shows people in Japan were drinking less in 2020, the year the pandemic was declared, as opposed to 1995, when people were consuming 100 litres (22 gallons) of alcohol.

But now, alcohol drinking is down to 75 litres (16 gallons), showed figures from Japan’s tax agency show.