Speech Communication Tue. #5 Script

Resolved: That the Drinking Age in Japan Should be 18.

     I’m on the affirmative side on this proposition. First, I want you to respond to a survey: who drinks alcoholic drink in this class? Some drink and other don’t. These days, mostly, young people start drinking when they graduate from high school and we’ve already been university students, so most of us have drunk at least once before. I want you to respond to another survey: do you think drinking can help people have fun? This survey clearly shows that drinking is a way to have fun. That’s why we usually drink in parties whichever it is formal or informal called Nomi-kai in Japanese. Now, we’ve got strong evidence that supports my position. We can say that it is strong because you people made this evidence by yourself. Furthermore, I can show you three more points why I support this position: tax, other countries’ drinking age and learn how to drink or stop drinking.

     The first point is tax. It is well-known that most of the Japanese government’s source of revenue is taxes people have to pay. Now, the national finance is not healthy and the government is trying to rebuild the national economy. Do you know how much the total budget deficit of Japanese government? It came to 1,382,840 billion yen. If the drinking age is set 18, then more and more people can buy alcoholic drinks and the government will be able to secure a big source of finance. According to the web site of the National Tax Administration Agency, in Japan, alcoholic drinks are classified into four types and each has different amount of tax per a kilogram. These days, the revenue of a liquor tax is decreasing. That means less and less people feel interest in alcoholic beverage and the government can have less chances to secure the source of finance. This situation can lead to a worse situation, so setting the drinking age in Japan 18 is one of the solutions that can be carried out quickly.

     The drinking age in Japan is 20 now. Of course, there are some reasons to set it 20. I’ll pick some of them. Firstly, drinking can disturb growth of a brain. It is said that a brain keeps growing until the person turn to 20 and alcohol is harmful to a brains. Secondly, minors’ bodies cannot dispose of alcohol as fast as adults, so minors’ internal organs can be badly damaged.  Thirdly, if people start to drink when they are still young, there would be a strong possibility that they get alcohol dependency. Finally, minors cannot manage their properties all by themselves. Alcoholic beverage costs a lot of money, so the government can’t allow them to buy it freely. However, how about other countries? Let me give you some examples: the drinking age in Korea is 19, that in Taiwan 18, in Canada 19, in Brazil 18, in Italy 16, in Great Britain 16, in Spain 16, in Germany 16, in France 16. The most surprising country about the legal drinking age is our neighborhood, China. It has no drinking age. Therefore, everybody can drink even if he or she is still ten years old or much younger. You can understand the importance of setting the drinking age 20. However, now you can understand that the Japanese government is a little stricter than other countries’. Though many of developed countries are concerned about problems that minors’ drinking can cause, they are setting the drinking age under 20.

     If the drinking age is lowered into 18, people will be able to get used to alcoholic drink earlier. If so, people can have both good and bad experiences about alcohol and then they can learn how to drink safely. That is, you will come to save your friends and yourself when you’re drinking: you can make your friends stop drinking too much, and you can stop yourself. By knowing our own margins, we can prevent troubles about alcohol from happening. What’s more, a former correspondent and editor of Time magazine, A. Barrett Seaman advocates that the drinking age should be lowered to empower young adult ages 18-20 to make mature decisions about alcohol in their lives. This also strongly supports my position.

     In conclusion, originally, alcoholic beverage lets us feel good and have fun as many of you have already known, but it can causes troubles and they can be terrible ones such as vomiting, alcohol dependency or even death. The point is that we can avoid them if we have right knowledge. As I mentioned in this speech, the idea that the drinking age should be 18 prevents problems in some ways and can even give us better results. For the first step to get a good result, please consider that I showed you about alcohol. This will help you break a bed stereotypes and have a right idea of alcohol. Both those who can drink and who cannot, please vote for the affirmative side.