Ministry cannot afford to keep handing out saucer-like sakazuki, a 100th birthday gift from the government since 1963

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Every year for more than 50 years, Japan’s new centenarians have been honoured with a silver sake cup and a congratulatory letter from the prime minister.

But as the country prepares to mark Respect for the Aged Day next month, the latest crop of citizens who turned 100 in the past 12 months face disappointment, as the soaring number of centenarians puts a new strain on the government’s coffers.



The saucer-like sakazuki, a gift from the government since 1963, could be replaced by a cheaper version or be scrapped altogether this year after the health and welfare ministry complained it could not afford to keep up with the number of new recipients.

In 1963 Japan had just 153 centenarians, and as recently as 1998 the number stood at just 10,000. At the last count Japan’s 100-plus age group numbered almost 59,000, and that figure is expected to rise when the government releases new population data before Seniors’ Day on 15 September.

Last year the ministry spent 260 million yen (£1.3m) on giving the cups – each worth about 8,000 yen – to almost 30,000 people, including 25,000 women. Local media pointed out that some people die before the gifts can be distributed, forcing them to be scrapped.



Several years ago the cup’s diameter was slightly reduced amid concern over rising production costs, but the strain on the ministry’s finances could see the sakazuki replaced with a cup made from a cheaper metal, according to Japanese media reports.

Other options being mulled are a different – and cheaper – commemorative gift, or restricting the official offering to the prime minister’s letter. “We are reviewing it, but we have not made any firm decisions,” a health ministry official told AFP.

Demographers predict that Japan’s centenarian population will continue to grow as the general population ages – the result of regular medical examinations, universal healthcare and, among Japanese over a certain age, a fastidious attachment to the traditional low-fat diet of fish, tofu, vegetables and rice.

Japanese women live an average of 86.3 years, putting them at the top of the global longevity table last year, while Japanese men were in fourth place with an average lifespan of 80.5 years.

Just over a quarter of Japan’s 126 million people are 65 or over, according to the most recent census, and the proportion is expected to grow to about 40% by the middle of the century.

It remains to be seen how most Japanese senior citizens will react to any decision to scale back official recognition of their accomplishment.

Until recently the titles of world’s oldest man and woman were held by Japanese. Sakari Momoi, who cited healthy eating and a good night’s sleep as the secrets to his very long life, died in July aged 112.

Misao Okawa, formerly the world’s oldest person, died in April this year, weeks after her 117th birthday.

Last year the number of Japanese centenarians reached a record 58,820 on Respect for the Aged Day, an increase of 4,423 from the previous year.

Japan’s oldest citizens were at the centre of a scandal in 2010 when it emerged that at least 200 centenarians had gone missing from local government records. In some cases, people who had died were still listed as alive, including a woman mistakenly recorded as having reached 125, whose registered home had been turned into a park in 1981.

