This is not just in Japan. During heat waves, as observed for example in France (http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5006569197 http://www.questia.c

This is not just in Japan. During heat waves, as observed for example in France (http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5006569197 http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5006569197) and Chicago (http://www.amazon.com/Heat-Wave-Autopsy-Disaster-Illinois/dp/0226443221 http://www.amazon.com/Heat-Wave-Autopsy-Disaster-Illinois/dp...), death tends to strike the socially isolated.