"We are living in extremely hard times. . . . I have been reading news- papers for 60 years, and I can't recall any era when the local news pages have appalled me more."

So writes novelist Hiroyuki Itsuki in an intriguing essay titled "Determination is necessary for the Japanese in the Era of Decline" in this month's issue of the popular magazine, Chuo Koron.

Itsuki bemoans the number of suicides in Japan, "exceeding 30,000 for 10 straight years, with the number of indiscriminate murders on the increase, too."