Act Now Before Donation Limits Rise Due to System Changes! Make a “Furusato Tax” Donation with “Best Value” Gifts Selected by Experts
[Part 1] First, Let’s Look at Staple Foods and Side Dishes… Return Gifts Worth 20,000 Yen or Less That You Should Apply for by the End of September (20)
Don’t miss out on these great deals!
There’s just one month left until the next policy change.
The “Furusato Nozei” program allows you to receive deductions on your resident tax and income tax based on your income by making a donation to any municipality of your choice. With an effective out-of-pocket cost of just 2,000 yen, this beneficial program lets you receive thank-you gifts worth up to 30% of your donation amount from the municipality you donated to.
However, on October 1 of last year, the national government implemented a “deterioration” of the system by banning point rewards from portal sites earned through the Hometown Tax Donation program. While this decision drew widespread criticism from users across the country, it is reported that the rules will be revised again this October.Masahiro Kai, who has surveyed all 1,781 municipalities nationwide and uses return gifts to cover his daily living expenses, explains the situation.
“Until now, municipalities have used 50% of the donations received through the Hometown Tax Donation Program, while the remaining 50% has been allocated to thank-you gifts, shipping costs, and handling fees. However, under this revision, starting in October, the former percentage will increase to 52.5%.In other words, the percentage that can be used for thank-you gifts, shipping, and handling fees will decrease by 2.5% compared to the current system. Since labor and logistics costs continue to rise, municipalities will have no choice but to either increase the donation amount required for a thank-you gift or reduce the quantity of the gift. In some cases, thank-you gifts that were previously good value for money may become more expensive, or they may be discontinued altogether due to high costs.”
First, rice and side dishes
There’s not a moment to spare. FRIDAY presents the following list of great-value return gifts—all with donation amounts of 20,000 yen or less—that you should apply for by the end of September, as carefully selected by hometown tax donation experts.First, check your tax deduction limit on various portal sites such as “Rakuten Furusato Nozei,” “Furunavi,” “Satofuru,” and “Furusato Choice,” and then combine return gifts according to your budget.
“First, I’d like to recommend rice, an essential part of our daily diet. It’s the ‘Aso Dawara Polished Rice (5 kg),’ which you can receive by donating 7,000 yen to Takamori Town in Kumamoto Prefecture.Not only does it taste great, but its speed of delivery is particularly noteworthy. Exclusively through ‘Rakuten Furusato Nozei,’ next-day delivery is available. Since you eat rice every day, having it arrive quickly is a major plus.
For those who still lack an appetite in September, when the heat lingers, the ‘Bukkake Udon Frozen Noodles (5 Servings)’—available with a 9,500-yen donation to Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture—is also a good choice. You can easily enjoy the flavor of ‘Furuichi,’ a renowned Kurashiki restaurant considered the birthplace of bukkake udon” (ibid.).
Once you’ve got your rice, you’ll naturally want something to go with it. Keisuke Tobita, editor-in-chief of the Hometown Tax comparison site “Hometown Tax Guide,” explains:
“Even eel—which you might not normally splurge on—becomes a viable option. In particular, the ‘Chopped Eel (300g)’ from Osaki Town, Kagoshima Prefecture (donation amount: 6,000 yen) is amazing.Compared to single-piece return gifts of the same weight, it offers significantly better value for the money. This approach can be applied to other products as well.
For example, take Shikabe Town, Hokkaido’s ‘Shredded Mentaiko 2.1 kg’ (donation amount: 12,000 yen). It can cost less than half the price of a whole piece of the same volume. Of course, the taste is the same. Even with the hugely popular salmon roe, you can keep costs down by choosing trout roe instead of salmon roe.An example of this is Shiranuka Town, Hokkaido’s “Trout Ikura Marinated in Soy Sauce, 400g” (donation amount: 15,000 yen).”
From the September 11 & 18, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*