Have you seen the TV commercial in which a woman says to the man who is about to smoke, "If you want to smoke, go to Japan!!". Then the scene cuts to a newscaster announcing "In Japan, smoker refugees are increasing....." with some footage of people on a rubber dinghy being welcomed by Japanese guys on the beach. I think it's very funny. The plan of increasing taxes on tobacco and low malt beer was suspended this time at the Diet (Japan's parliament), but they went ahead and approved the consolidate taxation for corporates. Also they increased the medical costs that have to be paid out by patients. I can understand that the government has to increase their "income" by increasing the tax, but if it were a company this business model wouldn't work. You can't put prices on your services up year after year and not cut your own costs. Maybe the politicians think they're making sure the nation doesn't go bankrupt, but when they don't