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Japan wants young people to drink more alcohol
- paxys 4y agoThis is bordering on parody. A government so beholden to the alcohol lobby that it is using your own tax dollars to feed you propaganda and make you spend your money to destroy your health. And all of it so that a handful of people can get wealthier.
- bamboozled 4y agoThe government of Japan is seriously dated. Everyone who makes decisions is 60+. It’s only recently there’s been talk of banning weird practices like the mandatory hair dying and underwear colour enforcement for female students in schools.
- mmmpop 4y ago> The government of Japan is seriously dated. Everyone who makes decisions is 60+. That's America too and it's working great??? America in 2022 is super mega fun place #1. I don't get your point.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ihaveajob 4y agoWhat? Can you elaborate on the hair dying and color enforcement?
- rhplus 4y agohttps://japantoday.com/category/national/tokyo-public-schools-will-stop-forcing-students-to-dye-their-hair-black-official-promises https://japantoday.com/category/national/tokyo-public-school...
- bamboozled 4y agoI feel like in other modern democratic government in the world the government would step in and sort this out. Edit: Love to know the reason for the down vote here. I don't know of a single modern democratic country on earth where it would be ok for people to be forced to have their hair died black. Correct me please.
- pjc50 4y agoLots of supposedly modern countries can have very restrictive uniform and hairstyle rules. In the US you are unlikely to be asked to dye your hair, but may be made to straighten it.
- anotherman554 4y agoI don't know why you were downvoted but your comment is as if I wrote "The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. I feel like in other modern democratic governments in the world the government would step in and sort out the incarceration rate." It raises the question why you think the government would stop doing "Bad thing" if that's what the voters want.
- nazgulsenpai 4y agoColor of underwear: https://japantoday.com/category/national/majority-of-nagasaki-high-schools-have-white-underwear-only-rules-study-finds https://japantoday.com/category/national/majority-of-nagasak...
- falcolas 4y agoEvery time I see this, my first question is "How do people know the color of a schoolgirl's underwear?" Then I remember the key point of their dress code - a short skirt. Fuuuuuu
- bamboozled 4y agoNot sure if you're joking or being sarcastic or projecting or what, but it's not actually true. Often girls where long skirts, the teachers would check the underwear color.
- falcolas 4y ago> teachers would check the underwear color That's... not better. Not even remotely better. > it's actually not true. "Seira fuku (セーラー服 ) is a common style of uniform worn by female middle school students, occasionally by high school students, and even rarely by elementary school students. It was first introduced as a school uniform in 1920 in Heian Jogakuin (平安女学院) and 1921 by the principal of Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University (福岡女学院), Elizabeth Lee. " Knee length - a common length - is relatively short. It's no mini skirt, but I regularly see men's swim trunks that would cover more leg than those skirts do.
- mdorazio 4y agoFun fact: the average age of US representatives is about 58 and Senators about 63. Information I’m seeing puts Japan’s Kokkai at only about 56 in comparison. I don’t think you can explain this with age.
- nibbleshifter 4y agoBased on a lot of US decision making, I think you can...
- Filligree 4y agoI would say the same thing about the US, though.
- bamboozled 4y agoYou might be right, statistically speaking, but Japanese culture is extremely hierarchical. Those who are actually making decisions and setting policy I'm certain would be older than in the USA.
- martin_a 4y ago> underwear colour enforcement Is that being... controlled? WTF.
- swayvil 4y agoAll the Japanese I know have dark brown or black hair. What's the mandatory color, blonde? Relevant: https://japantoday.com/category/national/tokyo-public-schools-will-stop-forcing-students-to-dye-their-hair-black-official-promises https://japantoday.com/category/national/tokyo-public-school...
- ajuc 4y agoIt's dark brown/black. Cause you can't stand out.
- bamboozled 4y agoNo, it's black.
- failrate 4y agoBlack. So, if you are a school child with brown, red, or blond hair, it is likely you will be forced to dye your hair black.
- bamboozled 4y agoI know Japanese who are born in Japan with mixed race parents and have very fair hair. Common Japan isn't a freaking isolated island anymore, it's not 1830. Some Japanese are born with brown hair, it's rare but it happens, they'd be forced to die their hair black.
- traveler01 4y agoThat's an issue with everywhere in the world.
- js2 4y agoI’m convinced that capitalism descends into one of two terminal states and which is either “form 27B/6” or “Brawndo’s got what plants crave.”
- darkteflon 4y agoDon’t know why you’re getting downvoted, this is exactly right. I’ve been living in Japan for more than 20 years and this story is absolutely illustrative of everything that is wrong with late-stage, silver democracies. The burden, of course, falls disproportionately on young people. Don’t know how they’re holding it together tbh.
- georgyo 4y agoAgreed, but I don't think this is limited to capitalism. Really almost all forms of government. In any system there will both people who are trying to take advantage of the rules in place. To combat that, you add bureaucracy to attempt to put checks and balances along the way. Some groups will still succeed and get government sponsored rules that may not necessarily be in the public's best interest. Corporate greed is an pretty strong incentive for abuse and lobbing of a government system. But greed exists even without private corporations.
- MarkSweep 4y agoIf you like this, you will love the “Liberal Democratic Party Tobacco Parliamentary League”: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%9A%E3%81%9F%E3%81%B0%E3%81%93%E8%AD%B0%E5%93%A1%E9%80%A3%E7%9B%9F https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E6%B0%91%E5%85%9A%E3...
- 2Gkashmiri 4y ago
- pc86 4y agoWhere is the tax-funded propaganda trying to get people to buy more guns?
- krapp 4y ago
- darkteflon 4y ago
- adrr 4y agoNot propaganda but there are tax credits which directly cost tax payer money around gun ownership. Buy a gun safe, you get a full tax credit over the purchase. No one is giving me a tax credit or even deduction for a wine cellar.
- franciscop 4y agoI guess the CNN has a more serious tone than the story I share yesterday of the same on SoraNews, but duplicate? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32495883 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32495883
- ArekDymalski 4y agoWhat immediately came to my mind was "If you feel you are not properly sedated, call 348-844 immediately. Failure to do so may result in prosecution for criminal drug evasion"
- elevaet 4y agoIs that from thx-1138?
- theandrewbailey 4y agoI learned what that was just now.
- elevaet 4y agoIt's a pretty good movie I recommend it! (If you're into slow sci fi)
- ArekDymalski 4y agoyeah, exactly. but in my head i hear it as a sample used on ASC-1138 album :) https://asc77.bandcamp.com/album/1138 https://asc77.bandcamp.com/album/1138
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoAs a former frequent traveler to Japan, I think that drinking (especially among salarymen) is out of hand. I understand bars, taxes, and the alcohol industry, feeling pain, but I don't feel it's very good for people to drink like they do.
- bamboozled 4y agoIt’s totally out of hand and it’s in your face, everywhere you go.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- woweoe 4y agoJapanese people drink far less than westerners though. Those work parties are just one-off and not regular things.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoNot for the crowd I hung with. I would sometimes spend two weeks, over there, and every weeknight was like that. Thank Cthulhu for public transport.
- mistrial9 4y ago
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y agoThat was not necessary. I have nothing but respect for the people in our team. I worked with them for decades, and they were (still are) some of the finest engineers and scientists in the world (not hyperbole). They, in turn, had a great deal of respect for us. It upset me to see the level of drinking, because I am quite aware of the toll it takes. These were my friends.
- causi 4y agoHow grotesque. The purpose of taxes on alcohol is to discourage drinking. They should regard the current situation as a triumph.
- nazgulsenpai 4y agoIf they wanted to discourage drinking they would raise the legal drinking age or institute bans. "Sin taxes" have always been about revenue.
- TremendousJudge 4y agoOutright bans have historically never worked to discourage drug use. They only create a very rich criminal class that thrives in selling illegal products.
- paxys 4y agoThe only outcome of such bans is an unregulated and untaxed black market. See the outcome of the "war on drugs" as an example. If people want to drink alcohol they will find ways to do so. The best governments can do is ensure quality control and tax it (and fund public education and health via those taxes).
- marcosdumay 4y agoYeah, right. If there's one thing that works predictably is banning drugs...
- AtlasBarfed 4y agooh you, so idealistic The main reason marijuana has political oomph to get decriminalized is that it becomes a revenue source. Once a couple states started minting money in decriminalization, the other states hopped on board with great enthusiasm. It comes down to a cost / revenue perspective. Alcohol and many drugs are profit centers. Cigarettes? Not a profit center in the end, so heavy discouragement. Well, probably. I think vaping will become a lot more accepted by governments if it is true that nicotine itself isn't where the health problems are.
- ip26 4y agoIf they can reshape their alcohol culture, perhaps they could improve the declining birthrate problem at the same time!
- bigodbiel 4y agoIf Abe’s “Have More Sex” appeals didn’t work, maybe “Have More Drunk Sex” will.
- sudden_dystopia 4y agoCould it also be due to the fact that they have an aging population crisis and young people uninterested in dating? What better way to get young people to procreate then to get them drunk?
- picsao 4y ago
- nibbleshifter 4y ago"Get patriotically smashed and smash".
- paxys 4y ago> What better way to get young people to procreate Give them better employment opportunities, better work culture, ways to save money, home ownership... But nah, the problem is surely that they aren't drinking enough.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoNot to mention that women have access to pretty good birth control nowadays to prevent becoming pregnant when not desired.
- wollsmoth 4y agoSeems like it'd be easier to raise taxes?
- bamboozled 4y agoLegalise weed in Japan. Young people want to smoke weed. CBD is a huge growing market in Japan.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y agoGiven the importance of hemp in Japan historically, I also think this would be a great move. An example of Japan’s former reverence of cannabis: The sumo uniform is made of hemp.
- automatic6131 4y agoI don't think it is. In public they must wear only cotton kimonos, and in competition they wear silk belts. Maybe the training belts? They look to be of some heavy, stiff material. I'd thought they were just thick cotton too.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 4y agoThe ceremonial heavy rope belt - tsuna - is made from the same material that almost all ropes were back in the day: hemp. [0] That this isn’t common knowledge is more anecdata of what I am talking bout. [0] https://tachiai.org/2017/01/25/preparing-the-rope/amp/ https://tachiai.org/2017/01/25/preparing-the-rope/amp/
- bamboozled 4y agoHemp is for certain used to make decorative rope for shrines and temples, and it looks like many どひょう (sumo fighting rings) have some hemp rope involved in them. The sumo belts look to be made of hemp to me. There are all types of weird laws about hemp farmers having to be careful not to breathe in the smoke when burning off during autumn harvests etc :)
- narag 4y agoThere are hemp varieties with very low psycoactive contents that are used for fabric, ropes...
- 4y ago
- hericium 4y agoJapan, start by teaching your youth the truth about Japan's WWII atrocities. They'll start drinking.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- hardware2win 4y agoThats crazy, i hope they aint successful
- heurisko 4y ago"For relaxing times, make it Suntory time".
- m3kw9 4y agoSmells like this was done by heavy lobbying from the alcohol industry
- civilized 4y agoHmm... isn't the usual justification for a special tax on alcohol that it's an undesirable activity? A "sin tax"?
- schroeding 4y agoNot always, sometimes the justification is just an honest "we need money" - e.g. the German tax on sparkling wine was put in place to pay for the battleships of the navy. The Imperial German Navy of Wilhelm II. In 1902. Still in place. :D
- przefur 4y agoWell, that doesn't sound surprising. I'm glad that my country have gotten past soviet-era drinking. Nowadays the issues are just about the whisper marketing on social media which I hope soon will be regulated.
- Lev1a 4y agoVia "Abroad in Japan" ( https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxrA_wnEJD3Pm_GL9KSV9Euia_Rdbw1G90 https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxrA_wnEJD3Pm_GL9KSV9Euia_Rdb... ): > "We need to boost Japan's economy! What should we do?' > -"Well we could let tourists in to take advantage of the weak yen, bringing in billions of dollars of revenue & saving businesses around the country?!" > "NAH! Let's encourage younger generations to become alcoholics instead!" > I think that sums it up pretty well.
- thenoblesquid 4y ago(checks notes) Yes, yes it does.
- poulsbohemian 4y agoI saw the headline and thought “well, that’s one way to increase the birth rate…”
- chrischen 4y agoNope, doesn't work because there's physically no place to do it. You can book a temporary hotel but it's not cheap.
- laurieg 4y agoI moved from the UK to Japan and find a few things interesting about alcohol and drinking culture. * Many places do "all you can drink deals" sure, students and ying people use this to go crazy but I feel like older people are sensible and just treat it as a way to not worry about prices/splitting the bill. * Alcohol is very available and very cheap. A bottle of coca cola and a 9% lemon drink are more or less the same price in a convenience store. Spirits and sake are cheap. * Drunkenness is fairly common but violences is rare. I often see people falling over in the street making merry, or vomiting in the street in less merry moments. I've almost never seen a fist fight, which would be sadly common in the UK.
- webkike 4y agoThe first night I visited Japan I witnessed a Japanese man vomit on the subway. It was awesome
- chaoticmass 4y agoAnd you can get Beer from a vending machine.
- 0xbadcafebee 4y agoFor those who haven't been: they have alcohol vending machines.
- s3r3nity 4y agoCue the Ryan Reynolds meme: "...But why??" I've recently started my path towards sobriety (5 months next week) and I feel significantly healthier than I have ever felt over the past few decades of drinking. I feel empathy for similar folks in my position in Japan: it's already difficult enough with liquor ads almost everywhere (e.g. I see them all the time in YouTube, and I don't have recourse to tell them that I find that whole category of ads inappropriate for someone trying to fight temptation like that) but I can't imagine how difficult it would be if the _government_ is pressing you to drink more.
- ta988 4y agoCongrats on your 5 months. From what colleagues told me the peer pressure is really high too.
- mariojv 4y agoPutting aside the ethics of this at the moment which other comments cover, I wonder if at this stage the lower sales have anything to do with the continued restrictions on tourism, or if tourists make up a negligible amount of alcohol sales. I looked it up the other day, and you can technically visit Japan as a tourist, but you have to book a guided package tour through an agency. It seemed like the guide has to be with you everyday.
- kire456 4y agoIt wasn't like that when I visited a few years ago. We just booked a hotel, got on a plane and went there. I can't find this requirement on their COVID page either. Do you have a link?
- iggldiggl 4y agoQuoting from the website of their German embassy (https://www.de.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/konsular_InformationenCoronavirus_VisaTourism.html https://www.de.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/konsular_Informatione...): General notice: For entry measures, countries of entry are divided into 3 categories (blue, yellow and red). The entry modalities and visa regulations are then based on the colours. Blue = Tourism allowed with visa Yellow/ Red = Tourism not allowed The categories are reviewed at regular intervals and countries can be reassigned to a different category in the event of a new review, which means that relaxations can be withdrawn again if necessary. Germany is currently Category Blue. NOTE! Visas can only be applied for if a travel agency/travel company based in Japan acts as guarantor and registers with the Japanese Ministry of Health (see below). At the moment, an application is only possible for package/group tours organized by a travel agency based in Japan as well as with continuous group guidance on site without individually plannable days as well as only with a locally resident tour guide. Individual tourism is not possible.
- glanzwulf 4y agoAll Japan needs to do is let tourists in. I'll take care of this problem for them.
- mkl95 4y ago> In a 2021 report, the tax agency said duties on liquor had been a major revenue source for the government for centuries, but had declined in recent decades. Japan received 1.1 trillion yen ($8.1 billion) in alcohol tax in 2021 -- 1.7% of overall tax revenue, compared to 3% in 2011, and 5% in 1980 That's a big % of their economy. However some googling reveals that [1] > Summing up the costs of each component of the overall cost to society, the total cost of alcohol abuse was estimated at 6,637.5 yen billion, representing 1.9% of the gross national product in 1987, which was three times that of the national revenue from taxes on alcohol beverages. Which means this move may do more harm than good. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8412152/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8412152/
- bicijay 4y agoI mean, but the cost to society can be a very relative figure while the amount received from taxes are exact.
- searchableguy 4y agoA few states in India force revenue and annual growth quota on the alcohol sellers because they are dependent on the tax revenue.
- ginko 4y agoI could do my part if they let me travel there as tourist.
- kornhole 4y agoGoing to bars may also increase their marriage and birthrates which I believe is seen as an acute problem in Japan.
- ansible 4y agoThat was deep in decline well before 2020, from a variety of factors.
- throwaway290 4y agoSo the government refuses to let tourists in because COVID is dangerous, but has no problems slowly poisoning own citizens for that juicy alcohol tax money.
- fomine3 4y agoJapan national tax agency is known for stupid alcohol tax. They set beer tax high, then local alcohol brands started developing fake beer to avoid higher tax. It's completely meaningless development, that uses alcohol companies' develop resource but not competitive for overseas selling. Now it's going to be changed. http://kansai-odyssey.com/japanese-beer-happoshu/ http://kansai-odyssey.com/japanese-beer-happoshu/