Sterling silver sake cup downgraded as government cuts costs to cope with huge rise in citizens making it to 100

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

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Tens of thousands of new centenarians in Japan will have to make do with a cheaper version of a celebratory sake cup traditionally awarded by the government, as the country counts the cost of the large number of people reaching the milestone.



For 50 years, Japan has honoured centenarians with a silver sake cup and a congratulatory letter from the prime minister.

But the 31,747 people who are eligible for the gift this year – a rise of 4.5% from last year – will instead be presented with a silver-plated cup rather than the usual sterling silver vessel on Respect for the Aged Day on Monday.

The government reduced the diameter of the cup, called a sakazuki, in 2009 to cut costs amid a dramatic rise in the number of people making it to their 100th birthday.

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The decision to impose further austerity on a day of celebration for Japan’s oldest citizens came after a heath ministry panel balked at the soaring cost of retaining the pure silver cups and recommended that they be replaced with a cheaper version.

The measure will reduce the cost of producing a single sakazuki from 7,600 yen (£56) by about half, and reduce the overall cost to about 150m yen.

The cost of honouring Japan’s centenarians will continue to rise, however. Government statistics released this week showed that the number of people aged 100 or over rose to more than 65,000 last year, the 46th annual increase in a row.

Japan had just 153 centenarians when records began in 1963, and as recently as 1998 the number stood at just 10,000. It exceeded 30,000 in 2007, rising to more than 60,000 last year.

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Shimane, a largely rural prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, has the highest concentration of centenarians, with 96.25 per 100,000 people. Saitama prefecture near Tokyo, has the lowest with 30.97 per 100,000.

The oldest Japanese citizen is a 116-year-old woman named Nabi Tajima, from Kagoshima; the oldest man is Masamitsu Yoshida, a 112-year-old resident of Tokyo.

Demographers predict Japan’s centenarian population will continue to grow as the general population ages. More than a quarter of Japan’s 127 million people are 65 or older, with the proportion projected to rise to 40% by 2060.

Average life expectancy is 87.05 years for Japanese women and 80.79 years for men.