Raised 175 Billion Won Selling Alcohol and Meat... What’s Happening in a Japanese Regional City? [Curiosity Lab]

Miyakonojo City operates experiential tourism products specializing in alcohol and meat. Photo by Miyakonojo Meat Tourism Promotion Team

Miyazaki Prefecture, located in the southernmost part of Japan, is a representative tourist destination known for its good weather and beautiful scenery. Miyakonojo City, with a population of 180,000, is also famous for agriculture and livestock farming. Its specialty products are soju and meat. It ranks first nationwide in the shipment of cattle, pigs, and chickens. The city is home to the headquarters and factory of Kirishima Brewery, famous for its sweet potato soju (Kurokirishima), as well as the 'Kirishima Factory Garden,' where visitors can enjoy sake brewing and hands-on experiences. Sake and wine are also produced here.

Although the hometown tax payment system was implemented in 2008, donations to this area were low. The hometown tax system allows individuals to choose their hometown or a region they wish to support, donate 2,000 yen (about 18,000 won) or more to the local government, receive a donation receipt and thank-you gifts, and get tax deductions. At that time, the amount of donations attracted by Miyakonojo City was less than 10 million yen.

Miyakonojoshi Promoting First Place in Hometown Tax Donation Amount for Two Consecutive Years

When Mayor Takahisa Ikeda took office in 2012, interest in the hometown tax system increased after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and he wanted to connect this enthusiasm to the region. Before personnel transfers, he collected department preferences and noticed a striking comment. A 15-year veteran employee in the Agriculture and Horticulture Department wrote "boring" as their preference this year, unlike previous years when they wrote various wishes. The mayor thought, "Boring? Then let's give you some work," and assigned this employee to the new department in charge of the hometown tax system. The mayor then considered ways to increase the population and donation amounts in this lesser-known regional small city. He decided to put the local specialty, the sweet potato soju known as 'Kurokirishima,' front and center. Additionally, he combined it with meat, another local specialty that pairs perfectly with alcohol. Instead of offering a wide variety of products on the thank-you gift site, they chose to focus and concentrate on these items.

There was some resistance, with people asking, "Why focus only on alcohol and meat among so many options?" but they were persuaded. Even the employees who had labeled their department as boring worked hard on the ground. Miyakonojo City ranked first in hometown tax donations for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023. Last year, the total donation amount reached 19.384 billion yen (1.75 trillion won), transforming the city famous for its alcohol and meat into the top hometown tax donation city.

Ikeda Takahisa, Mayor of Miyakonoj?. Miyakonoj? City Official Website

Last year, the total amount of donations collected by over 1,800 local governments in Japan reached 1.1175 trillion yen (about 10 trillion won), marking the first time the total exceeded one trillion yen. The number of donors was a record high of 10.002 million. Following Miyakonojo City, the second highest donation amount was from Monbetsu City, a rural town in Hokkaido with a population of 20,000, known as the city of drift ice (19.213 billion yen, 1.74 trillion won). Their thank-you gift strategy is also differentiated and segmented. Seafood such as scallops, snow crabs, and shrimp, which are abundant due to the developed fishing and seafood processing industries, are very popular. In particular, the seafood is subdivided by quantity, part, and storage condition (frozen, dried) depending on the item. The third highest donation amount was from Izumisano City in Osaka (17.514 billion yen), which specializes in beef cuts such as chuck flap and beef tongue.