Japan Golfs, Drinks Through Recession : Economy: Japanese corporations spent $56 billion, equal to one-tenth of the nation’s budget, on entertainment in the past year, a survey says.

Despite Japan’s worst economic slump in two decades, businessmen are not giving up the most important things in life--golf and drinking.

From February, 1992, to January of this year, corporations spent $56 billion on entertainment, Japan’s highest total ever and a 1% rise from the previous year, according to a government tax agency survey released Friday.

The figure, which includes spending on golf, presents, restaurants and bars, is equivalent to nearly a tenth of the national budget and a daily national outlay of $150 million.

Many white-collar workers are worrying for the first time that they might lose their jobs as companies struggle to cut costs.

Overall corporate revenues slid 1.4% in the same period, according to the survey, the first fall since current accounting methods were introduced in 1976.

Analysts quoted by Kyodo news agency said the rise in entertainment spending was due to harsh competition in the current business environment. In Japan, money spent on entertainment is more effective in promoting sales than money on advertising.

Biggest spenders for the third successive year were construction companies, in the news recently for a series of scandals involving bribes to local politicians in return for lucrative projects.

They spent 8.4 cents on entertainment for every $10 they earned in revenue, compared to an industry average of 4.1 cents.