Not sure why you downvoted my post. At 300% of GDP, Japan is the most indebted country in the world and essentially bankrupt (Greece is at 180%).<p>The government has a mountain of debt (300% of GDP) which it mostly owes to the people of Japan. Debt means the money has been spent, but -at maturity- the money needs to be returned to the lender (not all of them at once, of course).<p>But Japan does not have money to reduce the debt so keeps servicing the debt by artificially lowering borrowing costs and just finding new lenders to pay off former lenders. In case the Japanese find better safe places to park their money, borrowing costs will go up, causing the debt to balloon, and may cause financial meltdown.<p>This has been going on for the past 20+ years resulting in stagnation in Japan.