I loved these stories. I don’t believe they tell me anything in particular about modern Japan, but I found them all fascinating:

• This is amazing:  The Emperor of Japan, Akihito, Is Still Publishing Scientific Papers in His 80s | Open Culture
• This is fun: Yuki Kawauchi Is Distance Running’s Elite Oddball – The New York Times
• And these are sad: The woman who cleans up after ‘lonely deaths’ in Japan | Japan | Al Jazeera and Miniature Replicas of Japanese Kodokushi (“Lonely Deaths”)