Before going forward into the new year, an extra edition of Shukan Shincho (with a Jan. 27 publication date) flashed back in time to track down author Ben Goto. Now a spry 89 years old, Goto achieved instant fame with a 1973 publication titled "Great Prophecies of Nostradamus." His book initially sold 2.5 million copies and, with sequels, total sales reached 6 million.
Goto served up a somewhat embellished version of the prognostications by 16th-century French astrologer and physician Michel de Nostredame, who in "Les Propheties," a cryptic book of 942 poetic quatrains published in 1555, is believed by some to have foreseen events in the distant future.
One of the most oft-cited prophecies, according to one English translation, goes: "The year 1999, seventh month/ from the sky shall come a great king of terror."