[kaybe]

> And if you feel discouraged by the notion that they are bad omens, why not consider the silver lining: While it's true that the flowers signal the death of the plant, they also symbolize new beginnings, since those who rely on supercentenarian species like madake can eventually expect a fresh, healthy and abundant supply of new shoots which will last for a very long time.

This would fit very well with the notion that starting a new era also means a new start. (It might make people a little eager to overreport I suspect.)

(Before Meiji era, Japanese emperors used to routinely proclaim new eras when some notable event happened or they just felt change was needed. Common reasons are big earthquakes and other natural desasters, for example, but there also eras that were started over the sighting of a white or red bird or the find of a gold mining spot (it actually turned out not to be). (The mean era length is something like 5 years.))

[luckydata]

Now we have HBO doing that job for us. We just ended the Game of Thrones era, to be replaced by the Westworld era soon.