I&#x27;ve been to Japan a few times and I like many aspects of life there (I love Japanese art&#x2F;sense of aesthetics, for example). I certainly wish the best to all humans, the Japanese people included.<p>But we are discussing economics, and &quot;hope&quot; does not work  in economics. Numbers do, and they do not add up.<p>Japanese culture does not like confrontation and therefore it tends to hide&#x2F;gloss over problems, be they <i>economic</i> (the last 20 years of not making bold decisions to get out of the stagnation) or <i>managerial</i> (see the Fukushima disaster initial cover up).<p>I am just providing a reality-based counterpoint to your over-romanticized, in my opinion, view on Japan. Every country&#x2F;culture has their pluses&#x2F;minuses.