Japan wants its young people to drink more alcohol and this is how it intends to achieve it

Boosting the alcoholic beverage market. It is the surprising objective of a campaign launched by the Japan Tax Agencywhich has launched a business contestaimed at young people in the country, so that they can propose business plans with which to revitalize the sector and stimulate demand among people their age.

The website of the competition itself, baptized as ‘Sake Viva!‘ warns that “the national market for alcoholic beverages is shrinking“, a fact that the Japanese Treasury attributes to the reduction in the birth rate and the aging of the population, as well as to the changes in lifestyle that the pandemic has caused.

Thus, the contest asks young people between the ages of 20 and 39 to propose their own business plans for the development and promotion of Japanese alcoholic beverages, citing sake, shochu, awamori, beer, whiskey, wines and spirits.

Specifically, proposals for new services and methods of promotion are requested for “stimulate demand among young people“, of “products and designs based on new lifestyles and changes in tastes due to COVID-19″ and even new sales methods using artificial intelligence and the metaverse, as well as ideas to improve the brand value of alcoholic beverages using geographical indications”. The application period, which began in July, ends on September 9.

Less alcohol consumption… and less tax collection

According to the ‘BBC‘, which quotes Japanese media, the campaign has generated different reactions, but it has also provoked criticism for promoting such an unhealthy habit as is the consumption of alcohol.

In this sense, and according to the ‘Financial Times‘, the Japanese Ministry of Health has disassociated itself of the initiative, stating that it did not cooperate with the Tax Agency in its competition, although they are in contact on the issue of alcohol and its implications for health. The Ministry added that it hoped the campaign would keep in mind the “appropriate amount” of alcohol consumption to avoid major health problems.

For its part, the aforementioned British chain points out that in recent years there has been a significant reduction in alcohol consumption in the Asian country, which has meant, in turn, that the tax collection on alcohol has been reducedgoing from 5 to 1.7% from 1980 to 2020, according to ‘The Japan Times‘.

Japan, according to data from the WHOhad a consumption of 8.81 liters of pure alcohol per year per capita, a figure that, in comparison, in Spain amounts to 10.39 liters per person. Japanese tax authorities relate the level of consumption to the age of its citizens, an issue that worries a country where people over the age of 65 account for 28.8% of the population.