[/floatl]Yomiuri: Silver cup given to centenarians to get smaller
The size of the silver sake cup presented to people who turn 100 is to be reduced from fiscal 2009, as more people are living into triple digits, while the budget to make the cups has not been increased, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has announced. The cup is presented as a gift from the prime minister and has the kanji for "kotobuki" (happiness) inscribed inside the shallow basin and "prime minister" on the bottom. The cup is presented by municipalities to elderly people who are alive as of Sept. 15, Respect-for-the-Aged Day. The current cup is about 10.5 centimeters in diameter. The new size will probably be about nine centimeters. The ministry also plans to review other specifications, including the cup's thickness. The cost of making each cup differs according to the market rate of silver, but costs an average of 7,000 yen to 8,000 yen, including the paulownia box it comes in. The number of centenarians in the nation when the trophy was first handed out in fiscal 1963 was 153. In 1986, the number of 100-year-olds topped 1,000 for the first time. It surpassed 10,000 in fiscal 2002. In fiscal 2008, 19,768 people are set to turn 100, with about 140 million yen allocated for trophies. The number is expected to exceed 20,000 in fiscal 2009. Although the ministry said it was planning to make cups smaller "to match the size of regularly used cups," a staffer at one municipality said it was a shame that "aged people will become victims of the government's financial problems."
