Japan is a bit of a special case. They had extraordinarily high private-sector credit growth before their bubble burst. Now their private-sector debt has been d

Japan is a bit of a special case. They had extraordinarily high private-sector credit growth before their bubble burst. Now their private-sector debt has been dramatically shrinking, which would have led to deflation. Basically, Japan's public-sector debt growth is offsetting private-sector debt shrinkage. This dynamic is unique to Japan.