“Sake Viva! This is the name of a campaign for the less original imagined by the tax agency of Japan. His goal ? Encourage young people to drink more alcohol while consumption in the country is constantly falling, as are the revenues that go with it, for the coffers of the State, explains BFM. To do this, the authorities appeal to Japanese aged 20 to 39 years.
The latter have until September 9 to submit their ideas to revive the chronic decline in consumption in the archipelago. The finalists, at the origin of the best suggestions, will be invited to a gala in Tokyo at the beginning of November. And the proposals of the big winner will be marketed. According the official website of this campaign spotted by The Guardian, “Sake Viva! aims to “offer new products and new designs”.
Drink “reasonably”
It must be said that alcohol consumption has continued to decline in the country, dropping from an average of 100 liters per person in 1995 to 75 liters today. The main reason mentioned is the aging of the population with the over 65s representing more than a quarter of the Japanese population. The various confinements have also provided little incentive to drink and new lifestyles no longer celebrate alcohol as before. Beer was particularly affected by this trend, its sales fell by 20% between 2019 and 2020.
But it is also (and above all) for budgetary reasons that Japan launched this initiative “Saké Viva! “, which has also received mixed opinions among the population. The country’s debt amounted to 48 trillion yen in 2020, the equivalent of 10,000 billion euros. In the same year, taxes on alcohol represented only 1.7% of national tax revenue, compared to 3% in 2011 and 5% in 1980. For its part, the Japanese Ministry of Health estimated that this campaign could also be an opportunity to remember that you have to drink “reasonably”.
