Interesting. Sounds almost like a conspiracy though, it would be nice to see some confirmation. If it's true, then a lot of government numbers will need to be updated, and it could have impact on health studies.
on the subject of conspiracy, suicide rates in Japan are widely rumoured to be gamed by the authorities to be essentially "fixed" at a little north of 30,000/yr and many suspect that a proper classification of "missing" or "suspicious deaths" to suicides would increase this number to 100,000/yr.
