Paying taxes is rarely exciting. Paying taxes and getting a giant dog mount in your favorite MMO as a thank-you gift is a different story entirely.
Final Fantasy XIV Online has teamed up with Tokyo's Shibuya Ward as part of Japan's Furusato Nozei system, a government-backed initiative that lets urban residents voluntarily redirect a portion of their taxes toward municipalities of their choice. Usually that means your hometown, and usually the reward is something like a gift card or regional snack box. Square Enix, which operates its offices out of Shibuya, has decided the appropriate reward is a Shiba Inu mount the size of a small building.
What Furusato Nozei actually is
Furusato Nozei translates roughly to "hometown tax," and the system has been running in Japan for years. The idea is simple: residents of major cities like Tokyo often pay taxes to urban wards they have no personal connection to. Furusato Nozei lets them redirect some of that money to rural or smaller municipalities, typically the places they grew up. In exchange, those municipalities offer gifts as a thank-you.
Shibuya Ward is now participating, and Square Enix has signed on as a partner to supply the rewards. The result is a collaboration page where Japanese residents can donate to Shibuya and walk away with in-game items.
The reward breakdown, from dog to dance emotes
Here's the lowdown on what's actually on offer. The headline item is the Megashiba mount, which unlocks at a donation of 9,000 yen (roughly $55). For context, the same mount typically runs around 2,530 yen (about $16) through the regular in-game store. So you're paying a premium, but a chunk of that goes toward public infrastructure rather than Square Enix's bottom line directly.
The reward tiers don't stop at the dog. Other options across various donation amounts include:
- Five Fantasia (the consumable used to change your character's race and appearance)
- The Collegiate Attire set
- The Magitek Attire set
- Multiple dance emotes
What most players outside Japan will miss is the tax write-off angle. Japanese residents donating above a certain threshold can deduct a portion of the contribution from their income tax the following year. So if you're already paying that tax anyway, the math starts looking a lot more favorable than the sticker price suggests.
A genuinely unusual brand partnership
Square Enix running a store promotion is nothing new. FFXIV has had branded collaborations, seasonal sales, and limited-time cosmetics for years. But tying in-game rewards to a civic tax donation system is a different move entirely. The key here is that it positions the game not just as entertainment but as something woven into the fabric of where people live and work.
Shibuya is one of Tokyo's most recognizable wards, and Square Enix having its offices there gives the partnership a natural logic. It's not a random municipality cold-calling a game studio. Still, watching a government tax incentive program hand out Shiba Inu mounts is the kind of sentence that takes a moment to process.
For players who are deep into FFXIV's cosmetic grind, the Fantasia bundles alone might make the math worth running. Five Fantasias at a single donation tier is a solid haul for anyone who likes experimenting with character appearance. If you want a full breakdown of what FFXIV's glamour system looks like after the Patch 7.4 overhaul, the FFXIV glamour system and best outfits guide covers the current state of cosmetic freedom in detail.
Japanese residents interested in participating can head to the official Shibuya Furusato Nozei collaboration page to sign up. For everyone else keeping tabs on what's happening in Eorzea right now, the Final Fantasy XIV Online guides hub has current content covered.
