Everybody walks in fear of Japanization these days. Everybody wants to avoid their version of the lost decade. They don't want to see their economies become locked into a never-ending spiral of deflation, Japanese-style.

What will they do, they ask themselves, if their politicians become as impotent as their Japanese counterparts?

Europeans dread it. Americans suspect they already have it and hang their heads in dismay. The image on the cover of The Economist depicting Barack Obama and Angela Merkel in Japanese attire haunts positively everyone. Clearly, Japanization is now everyone's worst nightmare.