Since the 1990s, often called Japan's "lost 10 years," many parts of Japanese society have been disintegrating. Japan's influence has been in decline in the international community and on the global economic scene.
Its share of the world's gross domestic product dropped from 14.3 percent in 1990 to 8.9 percent in 2008, and could drop to around 5 percent in 2015 should this situation continue.
Japan now faces serious problems arising from persistent deflation, the yen's rise, employment uncertainty, weak state finances and a declining and aging population. It had the world's largest external net assets worth ¥266.2 trillion (about $3.1 trillion) at the end of 2009, but its economy might eventually start eating away at its inherited assets.