ASIA: Haruspeculation

"This must be the most virtuous of all possible conventions," declared Chief Predictor Hachiro Asano as 100 crack fortunetellers from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and India assembled in Seoul for a three-day meeting that ended last week. Drinking and sex were explicitly barred because, as Asano explained, "We must remain pure" for important responsibilities—that is, agreeing on answers to ten of the world's weightiest questions.

The second International Predictors' Conference, like last year's first such get-together in Tokyo, also gave Asia's various astrologers, palmists, bamboo-stick readers and other diviners a chance...

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