OP is slightly out of date: https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/inflation-cpi https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/inflation-cpi they have pulled out of deflation.

OP is slightly out of date: https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/inflation-cpi https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/inflation-cpi they have pulled out of deflation. The Japanese government is beyond Greece levels of debt. 266.2% https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/government-debt-to-gdp https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/government-debt-to-gdp They basically can't take on additional debt, who will finance that at any reasonable rate? So the last spot for the government to place their debt: https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/central-bank-balance-sheet https://tradingeconomics.com/japan/central-bank-balance-shee... They are beyond bankrupt but their honour as a people means they won't default. They haven't balanced their budget since the early 1990s and are just paying the crushing amount of interest. Their tax payers pay significant money for literally nothing and thusly their politicians have a decision. Do you cut services provided? They are so bankrupt that they basically have to shutdown singlepayer healthcare and education. Obviously no politician will ever make that decision. So what's the other option? High taxes. Japan's corporate tax rate is >30%. There's no other developed country with such a high corp tax rate. How about personal tax? Japan is >55%. There is literally only 2 other countries with higher taxes. Lets not forget the 10% sales tax. Their total tax burden isn't 95%, but it's not far from it. No surprise at all that their country has serious economic issues and I dont see Japan ever turning this around. How do their people live off ~5%? You dont.