Japanese Government Moves to Address Japan's Drinking Problem

[Chance]

And by "drinking problem" they mean "not drinking enough". From NPR:

Young people turning away from alcohol is generally welcomed as a positive trend. But it's bad news both for booze companies, and governments that are watching lucrative alcohol tax revenues dry up along with the populace.

Japan's National Tax Agency is clearly concerned: It's taking an unorthodox approach to try to get young Japanese adults to drink more, in an online contest dubbed Sake Viva!

The project asks young people to submit business plans to lure a new generation into going on the sauce, saying Japan's sake, beer and liquor makers are facing challenges that the pandemic has made even worse.

....

The Sake Viva! contest is open to people from 20 to 39 years old, with submissions due on Sept. 9. An email to contest organizers seeking comment and details about the number of entries was not answered before this story published.

Pro-drinking contest submissions that make it to the final round will be judged in person in Tokyo on Nov. 10.

It does not say the contest is limited only to residents of Japan, and a "Pistol-Forum Goes Drinking in Tokyo" thread would be fun.

[feudist]

The world has gotten so strange I am forced to conclude that the Hologram programmer has gotten bored with his creation and is just fucking with us.

[5pins]

This explains why they are not having sex and the population is dropping.

[JRB]

This explains why they are not having sex and the population is dropping.

I correspond regularly with a car-buddy of mine that's Japanese born and raised and lives in Japan. In his take, it's a lot stranger and more complicated. You can read up by researching 'Grass Eating Boys' or 'Herbivore Men'.

The basis of it is a combination of things;
-Very high housing costs especially for family-sized homes
-A grueling 50-60 hour/week work schedule is still the norm for most 'Salarymen'
-Japanese women are now enjoying a great deal more social equity and empowerment than in years prior. This is fundamentally a good thing, but in comparison to a Japanese suitor three decades ago, it's not a matter anymore of simply finding a cute girl among your family's network of friends and associates, courting her with dates once or twice a month for 6 mo-1 year and then marrying her; now a Japanese dude has to put some real money and effort into meeting and courting women. When your entire upbringing has heavily emphasized being polite, professional, composed, proper, and not offering offense of any kind, this can be incredibly intimidating. It'd be fair to say the average Japanese 21 year old dude has a hell of a lot in common with the average 21 year old American male awkward gamer nerd that's never been on a date, and they face similar challenges socially.
-Japanese pornography continues to advance and frankly defy the imagination in ways that are novel and, well, disgusting to a lot of folks. But finding a way to get stimulated as a Japanese male is not a problem at all. It's cheap, convenient, and available basically everywhere.

So by the time a Japanese guy graduates college and gets a decent job, if he's trying to get married and start a family he's faced with spending a massive percentage of his very limited free time and disposable income on dating women that have new and challenging expectations that he is not likely to be able to meet; and if he does succeed, he'll have to find a way to afford that even more expensive home & expensive upkeep and 'happy wife happy life' sorts of problems that are fairly new to Japanese culture in a lot of ways.

Or he can skip all of that social stress, expense, and BS, and simply rent a modest studio apartment (or just keep living at home) and that has all he needs to play video games, jerk off, and enjoy his other hobbies without any other additional stresses beyond simply working - if he even chooses to work. Being a 'herbivore male' isn't far from being a incel or NEET except that in many cases they simply have no interest in a relationship of any kind, which skips all the incel angst, and they'll usually have a part time job just for hobby/spending money.

An interesting side effect is that some Japanese women now take more aggressive measures in courting, a trend they call 'carnivorous girls'. Basically, some girls who are interested in a romantic relationship or sex will 'do all the work' and approach & court the guy now, since guys can't reliably be expected to even attempt courtship in most cases.

Edit - and specifically on the alcohol front; as a 20-something Japanese dude, socializing with the guys these days is almost exclusively an online thing. Everyone's playing the same games or hanging out in Discord servers or similar. That's where the Japanese alcohol industry is getting kicked between the legs, because the boys aren't hanging out at local bars or karaoke clubs anymore to socialize.

[Totem Polar]

@JRB

You had me at “jerking off and enjoying my other hobbies.”

Although, since I’m taking the ‘ol 1911 to the range today, I’m not sure there’s much of a distinction.




Just kidding; what you describe sounds like the very definition of dystopia on earth. Had online life been a thing when Orwell was hanging out in that remote inn on the shores of an equally remote Scottish isle, 1984 would have had a subtly different threat profile.

Actually, scratch that. Orwell most likely would have just played video games and jerked the prime years of his life away instead of writing novels.

What a weird world.

[JRB]

@JRB

You had me at “jerking off and enjoying my other hobbies.”

Although, since I’m taking the ‘ol 1911 to the range today, I’m not sure there’s much of a distinction.




Just kidding; what you describe sounds like the very definition of dystopia on earth. Had online life been a thing when Orwell was hanging out in that remote inn on the shores of an equally remote Scottish isle, 1984 would have had a subtly different threat profile.

Actually, scratch that. Orwell most likely would have just played video games and jerked the prime years of his life away instead of writing novels.

What a weird world.

What's disconcerting, even scary, is seeing very similar things manifest here in the US.

Friends of mine with 14-18 year old sons and a lot of other anecdotal observations all show concerning problems that 'rhyme' with those issues in Japan.
One of my co-workers has an 18 year old son that's fixing to leave for college soon. He's in good shape and takes care of himself but after one classically tragic teenage mess following his crush on a girl, and an attempt at asking her out, he has absolutely zero interest in dating. Long story short, the poor dude finally mustered the courage to ask her out at school, and his teenage awkwardness and intimidation was taken as being creepy/predatory instead of just being an awkward kid.
There was a social backlash against him at school as a result and even faculty got involved.
So his son has shown zero interest in dating or courting ever since, he just wants to ride his BMX bike, get a motorcycle, and play video games with his friends. We're hoping he grows out of it, but having met and talked to this kid before and after the incident, I sensed a finality and conviction that was far beyond simply being bitter and heartbroken.

Looking back on my own awkward and stupid teenage attempts at talking to girls and asking them out, I'd be terrified to be judged by today's standards.

[5pins]

[Bergeron]

It’s fine and fun to play video games and interact online, but there are certain do-not-exceed thresholds that the herbivores and incels are blowing right past.

[scw2]

There was a social backlash against him at school as a result and even faculty got involved.

Observed a discussion recently where the gist was Gen Z is more comfortable online, combined with the social downside of being rejected for asking someone out in person (perceived as an imbalanced power dynamic or unwanted advance) make it so that these things either happen online or only after the girl has made it explicitly clear they are interested (as in literally saying to the guy 'you may ask me out').

[JRB]

Observed a discussion recently where the gist was Gen Z is more comfortable online, combined with the social downside of being rejected for asking someone out in person (perceived as an imbalanced power dynamic or unwanted advance) make it so that these things either happen online or only after the girl has made it explicitly clear they are interested (as in literally saying to the guy 'you may ask me out').

That's spot-on for most Gen Z for sure. Just a bummer to see a good kid thinking he was being more respectful and sincere by asking in person, and have it blow up in his face the way it did.