Current:Home > MyJapan launches a contest to urge young people to drink more alcohol -SecureNest Finance
Japan launches a contest to urge young people to drink more alcohol
View
Date:2025-04-14 04:10:19
Young people turning away from alcohol is generally welcomed as a positive trend. But it's bad news both for booze companies, and governments that are watching lucrative alcohol tax revenues dry up along with the populace.
Japan's National Tax Agency is clearly concerned: It's taking an unorthodox approach to try to get young Japanese adults to drink more, in an online contest dubbed Sake Viva!
The project asks young people to submit business plans to lure a new generation into going on the sauce, saying Japan's sake, beer and liquor makers are facing challenges that the pandemic has made even worse.
Contest runs against Japan's non-drinking trend
Japan's alcohol consumption has been in a downward arc since the 1990s, according to the country's health ministry. In the past decade, the government adopted a sweeping plan to counter societal and health problems linked to alcohol, with a focus on reaching the relatively small portion of the population who were found to account for nearly 70% of Japan's total alcohol consumption.
Coronavirus restrictions have kept many people from visiting Japan's izakaya (pub) businesses, and people simply aren't drinking enough at home, the tax agency said.
"The domestic alcoholic beverage market is shrinking due to demographic changes such as the declining birthrate and aging population," as well as lifestyle shifts away from drinking, according to a website specially created for the contest.
New products that reflect the changing times; sales that use virtual "AI and Metaverse" concepts; promotions that leverage products' place of origin — those are just a few of the ideas the site lists as ways to get Japan's young adults to embrace alcohol.
Backlash hits the plan to boost alcohol businesses
The contest is aimed at "revitalizing the liquor industry and solving problems." But it has hit a sour note with many people online, prompting pointed questions about why a government that has previously encouraged people to drink responsibly or abstain is now asking for help in getting young people to drink more.
Writer and journalist Karyn Nishi highlighted the controversy, saying Japan was going in the opposite direction most modern governments are pursuing and stressing that alcohol is inherently dangerous. As discussions erupted about the contest on Twitter, one popular comment praised young people who aren't drinking, saying they believe the social costs imposed by alcohol aren't outweighed by tax revenues.
Critics also questioned the initiative's cost to taxpayers. The contest and website are being operated by Pasona Noentai, an agriculture and food-related arm of a massive Japanese corporation called Pasona Group.
The pro-drinking contest will run for months, ending this fall
The Sake Viva! contest is open to people from 20 to 39 years old, with submissions due on Sept. 9. An email to contest organizers seeking comment and details about the number of entries was not answered before this story published.
Pro-drinking contest submissions that make it to the final round will be judged in person in Tokyo on Nov. 10.
The date underlines the dichotomy many now see in the government's alcohol policies: When Japan enacted the Basic Act on Measures against Alcohol-related Harm, it established a week devoted to raising alcohol abuse awareness, with a start date of Nov. 10.
veryGood! (9367)
Related
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- What's next for Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers after Achilles injury?
- Survivors of a deadly migrant shipwreck off Greece file lawsuit over botched rescue claim
- Wisconsin Republicans push redistricting plan to head off adverse court ruling
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- In 'The Enchanters' James Ellroy brings Freddy Otash into 1960s L.A.
- Georgia man almost lost leg to a brown recluse spider bite. What to know about symptoms that can cause excruciating pain.
- Law Roach, the image architect, rethinks his own image with a New York Fashion Week show
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- Offshore wind energy plans advance in New Jersey amid opposition
Ranking
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- *NSYNC's Reunion Continues With New Song Better Place—Listen Now
- Alex Jones spent over $93,000 in July. Sandy Hook families who sued him have yet to see a dime
- HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines list popular Magnolia House for $995,000
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- Santos misses extended deadline to file financial disclosure, blames fear of a ‘rushed job’
- F-35 fighter jets land in NATO-member Denmark to replace F-16s, some of which will go to Ukraine
- Palestinian man who fled Lebanon seeking safety in Libya was killed with his family by floods
Recommendation
Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
Climate change takes habitat from big fish, the ocean’s key predators
Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, former presidential candidate and governor, won’t seek reelection in 2024
American explorer says he thought he would die during an 11-day ordeal in a Turkish cave
John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
3 people injured in India when a small jet veers off the runway while landing in heavy rain
Palestinian leader Abbas draws sharp rebuke for reprehensible Holocaust remarks, but colleagues back him
Whole families drowned in a Libyan city’s flood. The only warning was the sound of the dams bursting