Japan’s sluggish economy is stuck in an almost impossible position and those betting on a recovery any time soon will be disappointed.

Those of us living in Japan have known this for a long time......

We are in an era of secular stagnation, folks, ever since globalization and free-trade started to take hold. And Japan is just one of many economies suffering. Get used to it.

"Japan needs to make changes to its labor market..."

It has already made some big reforms to its labor market. Those changes led to lower wages and less job security. And that is what is giving us lower private demand....the core of the problem! Guess what: worried workers don't spend as much.

He may be of that view for good reason, but there are still a number of Japanese companies worth investing in. Exporters, aged care etc. Some exporters will have their stock prices swing about a bit with fluctuation in the yen, but are still worth having some of your portfolio in.

Admit it or not, the consumer market is shrinking gradually every year, among the consumers, the aged group over 60 is growing than the other younger groups and this is not a good picture from capitalist economy's point of view.

Already there are increasing abandoned houses, amusement parks, schools which is the alarming sign of depopulation. Offsetting this shortage of population by mass migration(as advised 1million per year) would be disastrous for social harmony and security. Selective immigration like what is going on is not that bad but the native population must be encouraged to form family and get at least 3children for some foreseeable future.

Though it would be contradictory to traditional workaholic society, only govt. can take initiatives to create such environment where people would be family centric, get enough salary to raise children without so much financial difficulty which is supposed to be the crucial barrier to make babies.

Yes its a problem that has been obvious over 20yrs ago but little is done & doing NOTHING is the same as doing something except doing nothing is making things worse.

fondofj,

The govt in Japan has been BLOATED country wide now for decades, the masses already cant afford to pay for them as is so any increase is another nail in the coffin, if anything useless bureaucrats need to be decreased, merged, increase productivity, but this will likely never happen so expect govt workers to be an increasing burden on the country overall will little or more likely declining value for the masses.

Japan is literally in very dire straights, the LDP has known about the core issues since the 80s at least & chosen to do nothing except line their own pockets & their friends while leaving the country to decline, rather sad overall.

Japan needs to make changes to its labor market and welcome new migrants to offset the effects of an aging population. (Bloomberg)

Let's face it. Welcoming new migrants to Japan will be frowned upon no matter where they come from. Yet, Japan wants underpaid 3rd world slaves to come in and perform duties like nursing the elderly, conbini clerks etc.

What Mr Douglass says is perfectly true.

What he doesn't mention is the cause of the economic malaise.

The bumbling idiot, the patron saint of lost causes, the guy who keeps trying to force Abenomics to work.

What's his name?

Um . . . .