According to Yoshida’s calculations, the proportion of Japanese named Sato increased 1.0083 times from 2022 to 2023. Assuming the rate remains constant and there is no change to the law on surnames, around half of the Japanese population will have that name in 2446, rising to 100% in 2531.

The word Tyromancy stems from the Greek words turos (tryro) meaning cheese and manteia (mancy) meaning divination. The history of the practice goes back to around the middle ages, and just like any other form of divination, the art of Tyromancy assists in divining messages. This particular method does so through the coagulation, fermentation or patterns of cheese.

In the middle ages, cheese would be inspected and based on the shape, the number of holes, patterns of mould and other cheesy characteristics one could predict certain things, including rain, love, money, justice, health and death.

One medieval method offered various potential outcomes, with each piece of cheese denoting one path. Depending on which piece was eaten first by a mouse, or a worm, you could see which path was more likely, which links nicely to Myomancy (mice divination).

Another traditional approach was used by young country girls to divine the names of their future husbands. You could write the names of your potential sweethearts on individual pieces of cheese, and the first to grow mould would show the most likely suitor or ideal match.