One of my goto's when economists/commentators love to harp on about Japan and it's lost decades. For all this horrible economic data they still years later have the longest lifespans, the top standings in innovation (many paradigms of which have been now copied worldwide) and on the whole a far safer society than virtually every other Western country.
Perhaps the widespread belief that economic growth equals wellbeing is the real problem here.
Plenty of places on Earth with 7% gdp growth that you need to pay me to live in.
There's a lot of great things about Japan, but I think most people on Hacker News would not envy Japanese work culture. It's common for men to work 100+ hour weeks with 20+ hours of commuting (much more common than in the US). Working women have it even worse, because it's customary for them to do all of the house work as well (even moreso than in the US).
Combine that with the fact that after working all those hours, senior poverty rates are also much higher than in the US, and it doesn't exactly seem like a laborer's paradise.
Health and safety are great, but like GDP and money, they're not the only things that matter.
Were it not late I would respond with Japanese land area, natural resources, almost entire dependency on imports, natural disasters, current account deficit and an entire country ravaged after being the losers in the last global war, including the only place on Earth to be ever attacked with nuclear weapons.
I'm not of the opinion that many poorer countries would also be capable of fighting for worker pay were it adjusted for what is clearly national potential.
And while not addressing your clearly correct comment, I'd far prefer to be a remote worker in Osaka or Tokyo than virtually all cities in the US despite language/cultural difficulties.
The trade war with Japan started in the mid 80ies and finished by the mid 90ies. The quality of life in Japan (as well as their GDP per capita) didn't improve since then. However, the quality of life in Japan was pretty good even before the 80ies.
Well, according to (1) life expectancy is up ~6 years, (2) infant mortality rate is down by ~2.5x, (3) homicides are down and (4) unemployment is down; all in the period of time that you mention.
"With 15.7 percent of people in poverty, Japan was above the average percent of 11 among the OECD member states."
"Japan has some of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world, according to a Unicef report."
Perhaps the widespread belief that economic growth equals wellbeing is the real problem here. Plenty of places on Earth with 7% gdp growth that you need to pay me to live in.