If you are looking for tax deductions go for Furusato Nozei (Hometown tax deduction)

This lets you claim tax deductions AND get some cool produce - meat, fish, fruit and veg, travel vouchers etc ?

For example I bought 2 x large 350g? sirloin steaks off Rakuten's furusato nouzei page for 20,000 yen.

There are 2 ways you can use this to reduce your tax bill (obviously first send your donation to the town you picked and receive your "Thank you" gift then -

Tax return (kakutei shinkoku) - File a tax return in Feb / March

One stop - special form you give to your employer from the place you made your donation.

Note with furusato nozei there is a "self contribution" so in my case 2,000 yen is my contribution to the produce and 18,000 yen will be knocked off my tax bill when I file my tax return.

The self contribution starts at 2,000 yen and rises in line with the price of the goods you are purchasing and your income. The trick is to get the biggest product but still keep your self contribution at 2,000 yen.

The tax year runs 1st January to 31st December. You're probably SOL for this year due to the length of time it takes to generate the documentaiton so I would recommend you start in spring sometime.