When the government says: you will drink, cheers!
While in the Netherlands, thanks to increasingly effective public information campaigns, virtually every adult now knows that alcohol is not exactly good for you, Japan is currently taking a very different approach. Instead of campaigns aimed at helping people give up drinking, the government (!) has launched a plan intended to get young adults reaching for the bottle en masse…
That’s turning things upside down, isn’t it? Imagine if the cabinet here were to launch a competition to find the most innovative plan for getting millions of people to drink jenever, or another national drink… That is exactly what is happening there, with all the controversy that entails.
The coffers are empty
So what’s the problem? The national treasury has suffered badly as a result of the pandemic and could use the revenue from alcohol excise duties. According to NOS, tax revenues have shrunk considerably because the Japanese have been drinking less and less over the past thirty years, resulting in €800 million less in alcohol tax being collected over the past decade. In addition, the financial support the government provided to the population during the pandemic took a serious toll. And so it’s time to fill the treasury, according to the National Tax Agency, and this is the measure being taken: a national campaign called Sake Viva! that is supposed to get young Japanese reaching for the bottle.
Government-directed drinking
It’s not as if you can leave any government building with clinking bottles and a drained bank account. The tax authorities have launched a competition in which people and companies can submit plans to get Japanese people aged between 20 and 39 to drink more, specifically alcoholic drinks produced in Japan (good for the economy too, of course). This really raises so many questions for me…
Just try saying no
There is supposedly still a little “drink in moderation” message tucked in somewhere, but isn’t this an absurd plan? I heard a half-Japanese radio contributor say that she had seen truly heartbreaking examples there of men and women in smart suits lying passed out on the street early in the morning after an evening of ‘obligatory’ drinking with the boss. This is a culturally determined phenomenon, in which it is considered rude to say no to your boss and you really cannot refuse another round of (strong) drinks.
Cheers..?
The reactions on social media are equally astonished. A prominent economist called it “irresponsible and unconventional,” and a hashtag promptly began circulating: #ikstopmetdrinken. Will the government push ahead with the plans and will the competition remain open (ideas can be submitted until 9 September)? No idea, but let’s quietly watch it unfold while enjoying an alcohol-free beer. Or simply one glass of wine.
Read also:
- Drinking for science: these people drank litres of alcohol for a hangover study
- Fact-check: does drinking alcohol help against a hangover?
- On average, you get drunk 4,004 times in your lifetime
