I have been blogging about some weird stuff in Japan and the economy that's falling apart,, but I am seriously beginning to wonder whether someone's having a good laugh at gullible westerners when I read stories like this.

In a response to my previous item on bizarre Japan, reader Clem Snide mentioned the book Wisconsin Death Trip. I'd never heard of it before, but reading the description on Amazon the events in late 19th-century Wisconsin do seem to have parallels with the madness infecting Japan. If I ever get through the backlog of a few dozen books I have lined up, I may add it to my list. Compared to the Wisconsin of the time, the situation in Japan is different in two important respects: the population is much larger, which means that statistically rare events will occur in higher numbers, and secondly the improved means of communication also mean that any upwelling of weirdness gets spread much more quickly.

I'm still not sure what to think about Japan though.