Why Japan's economy is declining

You can't see Japan's crises by looking at it. Life in the island state always seems to go on as usual. That was also the case on Thursday, which was a day of bitter truth for the country. Because the right-wing conservative government in Tokyo had to announce two pieces of bad news. First: Japan has lost its place as the world's third largest economy to Germany. Second: Contrary to what was expected, Japan's economy shrank for the second time in a row in the fourth quarter of 2023 and is therefore in a so-called technical recession. Toru Suehiro, chief economist at financial services provider Daiwa Securities Co., spoke to the news agency Kyodo of a “negative surprise”.