There’s been something of a hubbub lately with all these people committing suicide-by-cleaning product.  This being Japan, people are considerate enough to hang a sign on their door warning passersby of the deadly hydrogen sulfide gas being produced within – but gas is gas, and doesn’t necessarily confine itself to people in the immediate visual range of the sign.  It’s an interesting phenomenon because it’s symptomatic simultaneously of many problems in modern Japanese society – these odd suicide websites where people get the recipe for making this stuff at home and make suicide pacts with other posters, the very high but unfortunately understandable suicide rate, and the need to not feel like you’re inconveniencing the people around you by acting on your wishes.  Overall, it’s the kind of thing you can read about in the newspaper anywhere in the world and come away knowing at least a few quite essential things about this society.