Karakuri Babble is a daily column by the editors of i360.com, usually on topics tangentially related to anime and cosplay.

In the past we have endorsed many things; in the future we shall support many others.

And on the same note that I alluded to yesterday, here's a new-journalistic series of updates on the decay of rural Japan. I particularly like it for the interplay between personal reflection and unadorned statistics. It's depressing reading, mostly because it confirms everything we infer from what we've read of demographics, things inferred without firsthand evidence.

I wrote a lot on my reaction. But I deleted it because I don't have any good answers. Just that I don't really think that his dire predictions will come to pass, that they exhibit the classic prognosticator's mistake of extrapolating current trends into the future long past sense or reason. The reality is that things will get worse for a while, people will try different things in response, and eventually they'll get better.

words from chris, 2010-03-31 01:44:43, los angeles