While checking out Ashiya City’s “furusato nozei” hometown tax donations, I found a rather unusual return gift.
Screenshot from Furusato Choice
“ID photo shoot” can be a return gift!?
I’d never even thought of getting ID photos taken as a hometown tax return gift, so I was really surprised!

The shoot is done at “ハナヤ勘兵衛”, a long-established photo shop in Ashiya that started out as a photographic supplies store nearly 90 years ago!
The founder, photographer ハナヤ勘兵衛, left behind many acclaimed works, and apparently there has even been an exhibition of his work at the Ashiya City Museum of Art & History.
An ID photo taken by a professional photographer in the studio of such a historic and prestigious photo shop…! It sounds like it would make for a pretty memorable shot.
Here’s the map↓
The address is 3-6 Maedacho, Ashiya City, Hyogo Prefecture.
Screenshot from Furusato Choice
By the way, it looks like the most popular hometown tax return gift from Ashiya City is an assortment of baked sweets from “Henri Charpentier”. As expected, when people think of Ashiya, Western-style sweets are a big favorite.
If you’re thinking, “I don’t live in Ashiya anymore, but I still want to support it!”, why not consider making a hometown tax donation? There are all kinds of unique return gifts available.




