The challenge to which this installment of "Big in Japan" seeks to rise is that of happiness. Is it possible, in these grim, sad, threatening times, to write a happy story without doing violence to journalistic relevance?
We know how bad the news is, both domestically and globally. In the midst of it all, one very happy episode, the rescue of the Chilean miners, has warmed hearts all over the world. Two dark thoughts intrude: that the disproportionate joy over what was after all a very small victory over death and destruction is itself a measure of our collective angst; and, also, somewhat incidentally, that it occurred about as far from Japan as it is possible to be in this world.
Never mind. The nation ages, its population sinks, its economic edge dulls, its intellectual life dims (if a recent annual British survey ranking universities worldwide is a fair indication) — but does happiness have anything to do with that? Conventional wisdom certainly associates happiness with youth, wealth, academic distinction and various other assets increasingly out of reach for a growing number of people — but is the conventional wisdom right?