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tax

Tokyo ward will give cosplay experiences as character of your choice in exchange for tax donation

Ikebukuro’s new furusato nozei returns are aimed right at otaku’s hearts, include custom costume and professional makeup and photography.

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Kyoto to introduce “empty home tax” for vacation houses and unused homes

First-of-its-kind tax would bring in nearly one billion yen, but government says it’s not about the money.

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Learn about taxes from a talking piece of poop with the Unko Tax Drill textbook — only in Japan

Who had thought “being taught about taxes from a talking turd” on their 2023 bingo card?

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Sugar-free beer coming from Kirin this October

Now we just need some sugar-free skittles and we’re set.

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Japanese city offering authentic handcrafted swords in exchange for “tax” payments

The best part is you don’t even have to live there to pay the tax!

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“Tax” declared the official kanji of 2014

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, but in Japan every year people try to distill an entire year’s worth of words into a single picture…or logograph if you want to get technical about it.

Last year, after tens of thousands of votes were counted, 輪 pronounced rin or wa and meaning “ring” was selected to represent the nations various achievements of 2013 such as winning the bid for the Olympic games and having Mt. Fuji designated as a World Heritage Site.

And today, after the Buddhist monk approached the canvas of Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, this kanji above is what he painted under a fittingly gloomy and cloud-filled sky.

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Osaka man wipes away millions in owed taxes by deducting losing horse race tickets

It’s often said that nothing in life is certain except for death and taxes, but for one Osaka resident, that maxim was little more than an old wives’ tale.

One day, the taxman came calling to the tune of 816 million yen (US$7.7M) over years of unreported winning horse race bets. However, in a game where the house always wins, this guy managed to flip the script and knock down the money owed to a relatively modest 67 million yen ($635,000).

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