Japan's international rating has been declining lately. Heard overseas are suggestions that Japan is about to enter its third "lost decade," or that Japan has disappeared off the world's radar screen. Its share of global GDP, 14.3 percent in 1990, slipped to 8.9 percent in 2008 and is expected to sink below China's this year.
Japan has long boasted of high-level manufacturing technology. But in recent years, it has lost its top positions in the production of traditional industrial goods to China, one after another. With regard to LED, 3D and other high-tech products, Japanese makers lag behind South Korean and Taiwanese rivals.
The academic standards of Japan's young people have declined; their level of English proficiency is the lowest in Asia. Not nearly as many Japanese students desire to study abroad as do Chinese and South Korean students.