Corporations spent an estimated 3.74 trillion yen on entertainment in the 12 months through last January, down 4.4 percent from the previous year and falling for the sixth year in a row, National Tax Agency data show.
Spending was down 2.4 trillion yen from the peak of 6.21 trillion yen recorded in the year through January 1993, the agency said.
The agency calculated the total based on corporate tax returns and other data from 54,888 corporations. The firms were selected from 2.55 million nationwide based on capital size, business category and other factors.
The average expense on business entertainment per company was 1.47 million yen, down 67,000 yen from the previous year. By business category, the highest average spending was in the chemical industry, at 6.35 million yen, followed by transport, communications and public utilities, at 2.73 million yen.
The restaurant and hotel industry, at 581,000 yen, and the real estate industry, at 645,000 yen, spent the least on entertainment.