Amagasaki

Born in 1941 in Amagasaki, an industrial city in central Japan, Mr. Karatani first came to prominence as a literary critic while at Hosei University in Tokyo.

When that effort failed, Amagasaki officials held their contrite briefing.

“I apologize from my heart for giving trouble to the citizens,” Kazumi Inamura, the mayor of Amagasaki, said at the news conference.

Online users scoured listings on online marketplaces for “encrypted flash drives in Amagasaki” and speculated how long it would take to crack the password.

Also missing, embarrassed officials in Amagasaki, an industrial city northwest of Osaka, explained at a news conference, were the names, birthdays and ID numbers of about 460,000 people: the entire population of the city.