Many town halls continue to issue checks or offer commemorative items to citizens who turn 100 years old. Except that with the aging of the population, this is beginning to weigh heavily on public finances.
In Japan, there is no debate on pension reform, but a debate on the gifts that the state should or should not give to all centenarians in the country. For years, the government and local communities have indeed made a special gesture for all inhabitants who reach the age of 100. But it is increasingly expensive and some wonder if the country can continue to be so generous.
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This tradition of the State gift for the hundredth anniversary dates back to 1963. This is the time when the government began to identify precisely the number of inhabitants passing this symbolic milestone. That year, 153 Japanese celebrated their hundredth birthday. The government had then designed a small cup in solid silver which can be used to drink sake, a sakazuki.
More than 4,000 birthdays per year
Since then, every centenarian has therefore begun to receive this cash gift along with a letter from the Prime Minister congratulating him on his longevity and thanking him for his service to the country. This tradition, 60 years later, is beginning to weigh on Japanese public finances, which are already in very bad shape. With the meteoric rise in life expectancy in Japan, there are now thousands of new centenarians every year. From 153 in 1963, in 2022, 4,016 Japanese have celebrated their century of life.
To save money, the government has already reduced in 2009, the size of the cups it offers. And in 2016, he decided to switch from silver to silver-plated, which allowed him to halve the price of each cup. But that’s still almost 3,800 yen per gift, about 30 euros. Some therefore wonder whether the gifts should not be stopped and can only send a letter of congratulations signed by the Prime Minister.
This idea provokes a real debate at the local level in communities where there are many centenarians: more than 90,000 people. For example, in Samboku, in northern Japan, the city pays 100,000 yen -700 euros – for this anniversary. However, the mayor has just tried to remove this gift, because his city is in bad shape – it no longer has young people and no longer has a lot of income – but the municipal council, which is made up of very elderly elected officials, has opposed to this reform. And the checks will continue to be distributed.