Unprecedented at least is the method adopted in its Principles. Japan fill the coffers of the country with tax revenues. They encourage the youth of the country to consume more alcohol in order to collect additional taxes on the sale of drinks and, of course, stimulate the alcohol market. They adopted the advertising campaign “Keep the sake!” designed for young people aged 20 to 39, inviting them to exchange their business and professional ideas in a bar, while consuming either a traditional Japanese drink such as sake or sotsu, or something more Western such as whiskey, beer or wine. As part of the campaign, a competition is planned, in which participants apparently discuss over drinks and present their ideas and projects as they trigger artificial intelligence programs. The deadline for submission of their ideas is at the end of September, and the best of these ideas will be developed with the help of experts before the final presentation in November.

The idea was inspired by the fact that the habits of the Japanese people have changed, and the consumption of alcoholic beverages has decreased partly due to the pandemic, which has sharply reduced social activity, but also due to other factors, such as an aging population. The younger generation consumes less alcohol than previous generations, resulting in lower liquor sales and tax revenue. The official statistics provided on the website of this strange campaign show that people in Japan consumed less alcoholic beverages in 2020 compared to 1995, which directly affected tax revenue. According to the Japanese newspaper The Japan Times, reproduced by the BBC, the tax revenue of the Japanese state from the sale of alcoholic beverages in 1980 was 5% of the total. However, in 2020 this share has decreased to just 1.7%.

Japan’s government tax revenue from the sale of alcohol was 1.7% of the total in 2020, up from 5% in 1980.

The idea of ​​the Japanese authorities was met with mixed feelings, with some of the country’s media criticizing the fact that the authorities encourage unhealthy habits, even among the most creative part of the population. Some others, however, see it as ingenious and overdo it, suggesting various other innovative ideas to boost it, such as having digitally-acclaimed country actresses appear in digital clubs and encourage the trend. Japan’s aging population is certainly a factor that has influenced indicators such as alcohol consumption. According to the World Bank, today almost 1/3 of the population of Japan, namely 29%, are people aged 65 and over. This is the highest proportion of older people in the world and is of concern in the country as it risks not having enough young people for certain occupations in the future.