Please drink! Why Japan is urging its sober, young people to hit the bottle

Japan is facing an unusual problem – young people simply aren’t drinking enough.

According to several media reports, this comes as a result of the younger generation not drinking as much as their parents as well as bars and other outlets selling liquor being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic – all of which has causes sales as well as revenues to plummet in Japan.

Their solution? To encourage people to drink more, of course.

Let’s take a closer look at how and why Japan is doing so:

The contest

As per Mint, Japan’s National Tax Agency has launched the Sake Viva! campaign which asks 20- to 39-year-olds to come up with proposals to help revitalise the popularity of alcoholic drinks such as sake, whiskey, beer, or wine.

As per BBC, contestants can put forth their ideas till the end of September.

Then, experts will step in to further formulate those plans, which will then be presented in November.

As per CNN, the tax office says the victor will receive support for their plan to be commercialised.

Why is this happening?

“The domestic alcoholic beverage market is shrinking due to demographic changes such as the declining birth rate and ageing population, and lifestyle changes due to the impact of the new coronavirus infection,” the tax authority’s campaign website states.

Almost a third of Japan’s population is aged 65 and older, as per the World Bank.

People are also drinking far less than they were 25 years ago – from 100 litres annually in 1995 to 75 litres in 2020.

As per CNN, around 30 per cent of people in their 40s to 60s drink regularly, meaning three days or more per week compared to just 7.8 per cent of people in their 20s.

“In this way, the decline in drinking habits year by year is thought to be having an effect on the shrinking of the domestic market,” the ministry said as per CNN.

Kirin brewery, which makes Kirin lager and Ichiban Shibori, told The Guardian per capita beer consumption in Japan totalled about 55 bottles in 2020, a 9.1 per cent decline on the previous year.

As per the Japan Times, tax revenue from alcohol has plummeted from 5 percent in 1980 to 1.7 per cent in 2020.

“As working from home made strides to a certain extent during the COVID-19 crisis, many people may have come to question whether they need to continue the habit of drinking with colleagues to deepen communication,” an official at the tax agency told the newspaper.

“If the ’new normal’ takes root, that will be an additional headwind for tax revenue,” they added.

The reaction

The reaction has been mixed.

“Are you kidding me?” one Twitter user wrote. “Staying away from alcohol is a good thing!”

As per BBC, others have posted quirky ideas online like famous actresses “performing” as virtual-reality hostesses in digital clubs.

The National Tax Agency, responding to queries from Bloomberg News, said the campaign aims to promote the alcohol industry at a time when issues ranging from COVID TO a shrinking population mean fewer young people are drinking.

It’s a business promotion to encourage growth and “in no way is it encouraging people to drink excessively," the agency said.

As per Mint, Japan’s health ministry said that while it wasn’t involved in the campaign, it understood the spirit of the promotion was in line with its view that people should “drink responsibly."

With inputs from agencies

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