In Future, Girls Pay Beauty Tax; More Beautiful= More Tax - YouTube

Hi, Mystery Recapped here. Today I am going to  explain a Japanese short film called “The beauty  

tax.” Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care! The movie begins in a Japanese office where the  

manager yells at everyone for not being good  enough at their jobs. However, when a beautiful  

woman, Aiko makes a mistake, he lets her off  the hook and even apologizes for being rude.  

Aiko’s coworkers are not very fond of her because  no matter how hard they work, the manager only  

favors Aiko. Not just at work, but wherever they  go, people give Aiko extra attention. At lunch,  

only she gets a complimentary pudding,  while returning home from work,  

a salesman gives her two packets of free products,  while the others get one packet per two people.  

For Aiko, it is a normal day because she  is used to getting special treatment.  

Somewhere else in a press conference, the  prime minister announces that the financial  

condition of the country is in a complicated  situation. Hence, to cope with this problem,  

the government has decided to enforce a new law  in which the attractive women of the country will  

have to pay a beauty tax. The protestors in the  audience claim that this is modern-day systemic  

discrimination against women but the prime  minister claps back, saying that beautiful  

women receive a lot of financial privileges which  is not fair for ugly people. He declares that the  

law will soon be enforced and the ones who try  to avoid the beauty tax will be punished.  

Some days later, Aiko is approached by a  man who offers her a modeling job for a  

beauty salon. Her colleagues, jealous of her  popularity, walk away. As Aiko follows them,  

the camera pans towards a newspaper headline  that says the beauty tax has been enacted.  

When the three go for lunch that day, Aiko’s  coworkers pay a thousand yen for their food;  

however, Aiko is asked to stand in front of  a scanning device. The device is supposed to  

scan women and measure what percentage of tax they  should pay, according to their beauty. Aiko poses  

for the machine and it scans her face. The results  say that she is the second level of beauty,  

so she should pay 20% beauty tax. Her total  comes out to twelve hundred yen which she  

reluctantly pays. The restaurant that used to  provide her with free complimentary desserts  

is now making her pay extra just because she is  beautiful. Later while buying a bottle of water,  

Aiko again has to pay more than a normal person.  Likewise, all the pretty girls of the nation,  

according to the level of their attractiveness,  have to pay a certain amount of tax.  

The news reporters interview common people about  their thoughts on the tax enactment and people  

seem to be quite happy about it. One man claims  that he has spent a lot of money on pretty girls  

so it is only fair if they have to pay more taxes  than him. Another not-so-pretty girl states that  

the beautiful ones were getting pampered, so it is  only appropriate if they have to pay more. Before  

the law was enacted, many people thought of it  as discrimination towards women but after it  

was enforced, the people have changed sides. Now,  most of the nation is in favor of the beauty tax.  

The next day, Aiko receives her paycheck and  excitedly opens it, only to be disappointed. The  

money on the check is a lot less than her actual  salary. She goes to the manager with the concern  

and finds out that the beauty tax also applies to  her salary which means she will get twenty percent  

less than what she used to. The manager calmly  explains to her that it is not his fault but the  

government’s. To make her feel better, he offers  to treat her with meals wherever he can.  

Enraged by the discrimination, Aiko and other  beautiful women of the city, hold up signs and  

protest at the tax enforcement office. The man  there asks them to go away because the decision  

has been made, and it is definite. Aiko retaliates  that this is the worse form of discrimination but  

the man claps back claiming that they have had  the pretty privilege. He asks Aiko to give it a  

thought and dismisses the matter. When Aiko thinks  about it, she slowly begins to realize she has  

had pretty privilege all her life. She remembers  when she was little, she broke a flower pot once.  

The adults used to get mad at the children for  doing the same thing but their reaction was  

different for her. In college, her friends didn’t  let her pay for meals any time they went out, just  

because of her beauty. And even now, at work, her  boss pardons all her mistakes but he gets annoyed  

when others do the same. Back in the present,  the officer states that beautiful girls like her  

have always had social and economical benefits  which are unfair to others, hence, the beauty  

tax is a reasonable law that ensures fairness.  To make Aiko feel better, he adds that her beauty  

has been recognized throughout the country  by the standards set by the government.  

Looking at the situation from a different  perspective, Aiko starts to feel better  

about the twenty percent tax. The narrative  changes when the girls who pay higher taxes  

start to be seen as the better ones in society.  Aiko even goes to a reality television show and  

expresses her happiness at being one of the  few people who pay twenty percent beauty tax.  

The girls say that they are being asked out often  at restaurants and bars when guys find out that  

they pay beauty tax. Even at Aiko’s work, her  popularity skyrockets and she starts being known  

as the girl who pays twenty percent beauty tax.  Unlike her previous interaction with restaurant  

cashiers, now Aiko is delighted to pay more money  for being beautiful. Her manager calls her when he  

has important business meetings and his business  partner signs the papers without hesitation after  

seeing Aiko’s beautiful face. While purchasing  things, she makes sure to emphasize that she pays  

a twenty percent tax to those around her who only  pay five percent. When Aiko receives her paycheck,  

instead of getting mad, she is flattered and  considers it the fate of a beautiful woman.  

She is thriving more than ever until  Raiko Tajima arrives at her office.  

Raiko pays twenty-five percent beauty tax  making her more beautiful than Aiko by law.  

Her colleagues all follow Raiko around claiming  that she is prettier than any celebrity they have  

seen. Aiko is stung by jealousy to see all the men  drool over Raiko because she is used to being the  

center of attention. She vows to be prettier than  Raiko in some days. Then, she starts to exercise  

day and night in hopes of losing weight. She  also goes to the spas daily and receives several  

expensive facial treatments. After a lot of hard  work, she goes to a restaurant and scans herself  

to find out that she now has to pay thirty percent  tax. Aiko jumps in happiness to have finally  

gotten prettier than Raiko. But when she looks  at her bank balance, her happiness vanishes to  

see only two yen left. Her day gets worse when she  hears about Raiko’s plastic surgery. At first, she  

believes Raiko might have gotten plastic surgery  to be prettier but is shocked when she gets a  

look at her face. Tired of being charged more for  everything, Raiko had surgery and turned ugly. She  

looks completely different than she used to. It turns out that her fiance left her because she  

was too expensive to take care of. As Aiko thinks  that her day couldn’t get worse, she is summoned  

by her manager who informs her that she has been  fired. It turns out that the company had to pay  

more taxes for every beautiful employee and  to cut the unnecessary expenditure, they have  

decided to fire all the beautiful people. Soon,  the narrative around the beauty tax changes again.  

Beauty products to make women seem uglier start  selling out. The people who were proud to pay more  

because of their beauty start making themselves  seem uglier to keep their jobs. Moreover, men  

start to avoid beautiful women because their cost  of living is too high. One day, Aiko is in the bar  

distressed about her life. A man approaches her  and offers help to get her taxes low. Before she  

can continue the conversation, Aiko gets a call  from their family lawyer. It turns out that her  

dead mother has left her with a lot of wealth that  she inherited from her uncle. However, the beauty  

tax also applies to inheritances. Since Aiko’s  mother was also very beautiful, the inheritance  

amounts to negative one million yen, meaning that  if Aikp wants to claim the inheritance, she will  

have to pay the government and receive nothing. At night, Aiko goes to the bar again and meets the  

same guy. He introduces himself as Nonomura.  Aiko and Nonomura get closer while talking.  

He suggests she make herself look ugly to avoid  taxes and even hands her fake thick eyebrows.  

Aiko is a little skeptical because avoiding paying  taxes might get her in jail but Nonomura assures  

her many girls do the same. The next day, Aiko  draws thick lashes and freckles over her face.  

She also hides her beautiful hair with a short  wig and adds a huge mole to her nose. The tax  

officer is startled to see her come in. She claims  that she has been stressed because of her mother’s  

death and has gained some weight. The officer  scans her and the machine declares her ugly.  

He finally takes Aiko off the pretty women list  which means she will no longer have to pay for the  

inheritance tax. Thinking that all her problems  are solved, she rushes outside and calls Nonomura.  

He congratulates her and invites her to meet his  parents in a nice dress. Aiko understands that the  

man is interested in her and smiles to herself.  She is happy that even in a time like this,  

someone is in need of her beauty. On the day they are supposed to go out,  

Aiko excitedly does her makeup. However, her plans  go in vain when two policemen knock on her door  

and arrest her for trying to be ugly to  avoid paying taxes. They also inform her  

that Nonomura is a notorious marriage swindler  who covets the inheritance of beautiful women.  

It turns out that he was never interested in her  beauty and was only trying to get her inheritance.  

Aiko is then sentenced to two years in prison.  She is depressed and alone as her life has taken a  

turn for the worse. Her only friend in the prison  is her cellmate who is also in for trying to be  

ugly and avoid taxes. As they talk, Aiko wishes  that she was born ugly. If only her nose was one  

centimeter short, her life might have turned  out different. But her cellmate advises her to  

never turn away from reality. She claims that they  both are unhappy right now because of their dull  

hearts, not because of their beauty. According to  her, they were too focused on having a pretty face  

that they forgot to keep their heart happy. Aiko is inspired by her friend’s words.  

She vows to work on beautifying her heart when she  gets out. Cut to two years later, Aiko is finally  

let out of prison. She is dedicated to working  on her heart this time. She sees a kid crying for  

ice cream and kindly offers to buy one for her.  However, the shopkeeper returns her extra money  

saying that she isn’t pretty enough for beauty  tax. Moreover, some kids from behind her call  

her ugly. Hearing this, the “beautification of  heart” leaves Aiko’s mind. She gets offended  

claiming that she is still very beautiful. But it  turns out that in the last two years the standard  

of beauty has changed completely. Since men  favored ugly women because of the beauty tax,  

they became more popular and now are considered  more beautiful than traditionally beautiful women.  

Amazed at the new world, Aiko hands the  kid her ice cream but she refuses to accept  

it because of Aiko’s ugliness. Subscribe for more videos like this,  

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