Drinking practices, alcohol policy and prevention programmes in Japan

The purpose of this article is to outline alcohol consumption patterns and related problems, alcohol control policy and prevention programmes in Japan, which are not well-known in other countries. In Japan, per capita alcohol consumption is no longer increasing and has even started to decrease. At the same time, diversification of drinking populations has made a rapid progress. For the last several decades, alcohol consumption in non-traditional drinking populations, such as women and young people, has been on a steep rise. Consequently, in addition to traditional drinking problems observed among adult males, the magnitude of problems among these non-traditional populations has expanded. Alcohol policy and prevention programmes, however, have not developed to adequately control these problems. Availability of alcoholic beverages, including to underage populations, remains very high. Legislation related to alcohol control has not been well enforced, with the exception of the Road Traffic Law. Tax systems on alcoholic beverages are not relevant to the suppression of alcohol consumption. Moreover, there are virtually no restrictions on advertising or sponsorship and no provisions concerning an alcohol-free environment. Prevention programmes and activities to reduce harm from drinking have been carried out, especially for underage drinking, but they are insufficient to tackle the existing problems. Comprehensive discussions on alcohol policy and implementation of effective prevention programmes with participation of all sectors concerned are necessary, in parallel with actions taken by the WHO and other organisations.