Every September, on “respect for the aged” day, Japan’s government gives each citizen who turned 100 in the previous year a silver sake cup.

This year, however, recipients could be forgiven for feeling short-changed. To ease the budget burden created by surging numbers of elderly – about 20,000 centenarians are expected to need congratulating this year – officials have cut the amount of silver used to cast each cup from 94g to a miserly 63g.