plus no inflation or companies rising prices of most products, so all kinda works somehow.
True, if they didn't have to compete vs growing economy around the world.
It rings true whenever I visit Japan, that a lot of Japan is stuck in the late Showa to early Heisei, almost like a time capsule... and I get a kick out of nostalgia from my youth in 80s-90s.
At the same time, I get very sad at seeing a dying country. 20-30 years ago, a visit to Japan felt like a luxury - but these days the trip feels more like a "bargain" due to their stagnated prices. It's the plane tickets that kills me, usually... but once I get there? It feels cheaper there than Korea, or certainly cheaper than NYC, especially food & services.
I remember an ad when... I could be wrong, but it was "gari gari kun" - an popular Ice candy or something along the line - raised the price, the entire company made a full page ad apologizing to the customers? It felt so foreign to me that in U.S. or any other countries - price hike due to inflation or cost of living rising, is just natural.
At one point, I did envy the stable nature of Japanese prices, but now realize that it is also a curse. In away, since their economy didn't grow - it's like they regressed because rest of the world moved on.
For example. Japanese folks now cannot outbid fish (like Tuna) in the international market. The ones with money, like China or S. Korea can afford more of that share.
30 years ago, Japan just dwarfed over China and S. Korea in terms of their economic power - but now their neighbors have more purchase power. Actually I think S. Korea just passed Japan in terms of purchasing power per capita, if I'm not mistaken.
Although I also think of even grimmer future for S. Korea due to their catastrophic birth rate, far lower than Japan - and I think of current popularity of Korean stuff - K-Pop, K Drama, etc would be remembered as their heyday, like early 90s Japan's Jp op, Anime and Video games, J drama etc. We just didn't get those here in the west, because world wasn't as connected like today.