Ways to Die in Japan

Mochi: Every year people choke to death on the sticky stuff due to the New Year traditions of ozoni [mochi soup] and mochi pounding. The tally for 2006; 16 dead. 2007 is much lower at 4.

Fugu: No surprise here, the stuff is dangerous! 8,000 dead since 1887.

Eel: The eel-eating contests of summer brings on more choking deaths for Japan.

Yakuza: Usually a low risk, last week's murder of Nagasaki mayor Ito shows that yakuza are killers and not the helpful businessmen they like to be perceived as.

Ninja: There has been no verified death by ninja recently. But really, how would you know?

On the serious side, here's Japan's top 8 causes of death for 2006:

1. Cancer
2. Heart Disease
3. Cerebrovascular Disease [stroke]
4. Pneumonia
5. Accidents
6. Suicide
7. Liver Disease
8. TB

Note 1: Japan categorizes deaths a bit differently-- they have a nifty time limit. So if you're in a horrible car accident and die from the trauma within 24 hours, you're a car accident victim. After 24 hours, and the COD is something different. So the Nagasaki mayor technically died from blood loss, not a gunshot wound.