When you talk about the number of bits of anonymity he has once it's been narrowed down to Kanto, shouldn't that be the male population of Kanto?
Yes, you're right - I used the total population of Kanto, not the total male population. I should probably rejigger those numbers.
EDIT: OK, I think I fixed that specific error. Fortunately, the mistake had only contaminated a few numbers... I think. Please tell me if I've accidentally introduced additional inconsistencies!
It may help to resolve the tension between the two approaches more explicitly.
I believe I did do this before your comment, in mistake 3 where I discuss what the logarithmic scale buys us.
I don't know if this is a little too afar field for even a Discussion post, but people seemed to enjoy my previous articles (Girl Scouts financial filings, video game console insurance, philosophy of identity/abortion, & prediction market fees), so...
I recently wrote up an idea that has been bouncing around my head ever since I watched Death Note years ago - can we quantify Light Yagami's mistakes? Which mistake was the greatest? How could one do better? We can shed some light on the matter by examining DN with... basic information theory.
Presented for LessWrong's consideration: Death Note & Anonymity.