Foreigners To Be Exempt From Japan's Liquor Tax

Above, a bartender at the former Beat Diner in Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

For those who want to bring home bottles of made-in-Japan sake and other liquors produced in Japan, the Bangkok Post has some good news.

They wrote:

The Japan Tourism Agency plans to exempt domestically produced alcoholic drinks such as sake from the liquor tax for foreign tourists as part of efforts to boost regional economies, agency officials said on Saturday. 

The agency will call for the exemption when the Finance Ministry soon receives requests from government offices for annual tax changes in the next fiscal year starting in April, the officials told Kyodo News. 

The measure is intended to allow foreign travelers to buy made-in-Japan sake, shochu distilled spirit, wine, beer and whisky at lower rates and jump-start demand for such products that have shown signs of peaking out.

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