I have this book written by a sociologist in 2019 that has been living over thirty years in Japan. The title is (translated) "Chronicle of an ordinary Japan".

I have this book written by a sociologist in 2019 that has been living over thirty years in Japan. The title is (translated) "Chronicle of an ordinary Japan". With this book you understand better how NYT could fall for the "weird Japan" thing, because she reports that a company offers indeed weird services, like hiring people for marriages (as guests, not staff). Maybe she independently fell for the same scam (unlike the rest of the book, this particular anecdote has no source, it might be just a short-lived company), but the rest of the book is actually quite depressing. And more to the point, it seems to me that the combination of an unfavorable economic context and certain conservative ways of thinking is what is driving Japan into aging (at least faster than the other rich countries). How can you distinguish a superficial difference from a significant difference?