One symptom of a society addicted to quick information is the popularity of lists.
For these days, a short platter of numbers followed by pithy comments make for painless digestion -- as opposed to any meal of well-thought-out analysis. "Keep it simple, stupid" has become more than just a punch line for speech makers. Rather it is the gotta-have-it demand of the modern-day information junkie.
Quite a few of whom live in Japan. One retail chain -- ranKing ranQueen -- takes advantage of this listing inclination and ranks all store products as to sales. Junkies can thus merge their love of lists with their pursuit of brand goods and march happily away, knowing they are guzzling the nation's top soft drink or smearing their lips with a balm that is No. 1 in Tokyo, if not Gilead.