Japan's struggling rural towns lure tax from other wards with beef, beer

Tokyo

WANT a free case of craft beer? If you send 30,000 yen (S$371) or more of your taxes to the town of Yamanouchi in Nagano prefecture, they'll send you 24 bottles of a locally brewed beer to say thanks.

Want beef? Redirect 50,000 yen of your local area taxes to Miyakonojo in Miyazaki, and you'll get 3 kilograms of high-grade beef in return.

This Furusato Nozei (Hometown Tax) system began in 2008 as a way for people to channel part of their taxes to help rural areas struggling with falling populations and shrinking revenues. But its popularity isn't driven by altruism or nostalgia f…