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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Rachel Hagan

Japan launches boozy competition to encourage young people to drink more alcohol

The Japanese government has launched a nationwide competition encouraging people to drink more alcohol after a big fall in tax revenues.

The Sake Viva! campaign, run by the National Tax Agency (NTA), is calling on 20 to 39-year-olds to come up with “business plans” that will help restore the popularity of alcoholic drinks, which have fallen out of favour because of lifestyle changes among young people.

Alcohol consumption in the country was already in decline but the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated it further with residents eating and drinking out much less than usual.

At one stage during the pandemic, the sale of alcohol in restaurants was banned and at another point, it was restricted to certain hours of the day.

Alcohol consumption also fell by about a third in 2020 (Getty Images)

The competition runs until 9 September and is calling for “new products and designs” as well as ways to promote home drinking to "stimulate demand among young people."

The website says: "The domestic alcoholic beverage market is shrinking due to demographic changes such as the declining birthrate and ageing population, and lifestyle changes due to the impact of Covid-19."

Finalists will be invited to a consultation in October, before a final tournament in November in Tokyo., before the winner receives support for their plan to be commercialised, according to the tax office.

Booze tax revenue in the fiscal 2020 year was about $8.4 billion (£7billion), which is a whopping drop of more than $813million (£675m) from the previous year, according to government data.

Group of friends drinking after work together in Izakaya, celebrations (Getty Images)

Alcohol consumption also fell by about a third in 2020 from the annual average of 26½ gallons per person, while sales of nonalcoholic beverages have seen a surge.

Similarly, sales at Izakayas, Japanese drinking spots, halved from 2019 to 2020, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The ministry said around 30 per cent of people in their 40s to 60s drink regularly, compared to just 7.8 per cent of people in their 20s.

The decline in drinking habits year by year is thought to be having an effect on the shrinking of the domestic market," the ministry continued.

But the competition seems at odds with the government's view of alcohol as Japan's Health Ministry has previously warned of the dangers of excessive drinking.

Last year it called excessive drinking a "major social problem" and it urged people with unhealthy drinking habits to "reconsider" their relationship with alcohol.

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