Tokyo: Disaster preparedness goods and emergency food supplies offered through Japan’s hometown tax system have become increasingly popular since the first bulletin on the Nankai Trough mega-quake was issued following a major earthquake off the southwest coast on August 8.
According to Satofull Co., which operates the home tax donation website of the same name, the number of home tax donations to local governments making gifts as part of disaster preparedness increased by about 70% between August 8 and 11 compared to the period between August 1 and 4. Under the home tax system, people can receive a deduction on their resident tax when they donate money to a selected municipality.
According to the company, based in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward, searches for disaster-related items also rose during the same period. “Preserved food” entered the top 500 at 73rd place, “emergency rations” climbed from 458th to 22nd place, and “disaster preparedness goods” climbed from 356th to 3rd place, to name a few.
The number of donations in exchange for disposable “emergency toilet” kits containing coagulant and waste bags, offered by Fujisawa in Kanagawa Prefecture in sets of 60 for contributions of 10,000 yen (about $68), rose more than fivefold in August compared with all of July through Aug. 14. Orders for long-life drinking water in boxes of 24 500-milliliter bottles for donations of 8,000 yen ($54) or 12 1.8-liter bottles for 12,000 yen ($81), both offered by the Muroto city government in Kochi Prefecture, also rose 3.6fold.
Users of the site have reportedly provided feedback such as: “I had difficulty starting to prepare emergency supplies at first, but the timing of paying home taxes finally helped me make up my mind.”
A representative of the website said: “It looks like the local tax system will become a means of improving disaster preparedness.”
(Japanese original by Yuko Shimada, Business News Department)
