Maybe it's time some people to update their understanding of the "Japan 200%+ debt" slogan that is mindlessly repeated. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.

Maybe it's time some people to update their understanding of the "Japan 200%+ debt" slogan that is mindlessly repeated. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=68142 https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=68142 Accounting for the asset holding, Japan's net debt is even lower than UK/US. >The key lies in the Japanese public sector’s operation of a de facto sovereign wealth fund. Unlike countries such as Norway and Saudi Arabia, which fund such vehicles with national savings from natural resources, Japan finances its investments largely through domestic borrowing at very low floating interest rates .... >In the case of Japan, evaluating fiscal positions solely through the lens of gross government debt can present a highly distorted picture of the overall fiscal health of the country.