I recently spent four months in Japan. Politically, Japan is unraveling. I am afraid it is not creative destruction a la Schumpeter. It's more like the vested interests fighting tooth and nail to continue devouring the very foundation of their society. Obviously, Japan is not the only country where vested interests dominate politics. The most shocking thing about Japan is the degree of information control that keeps its citizens unaware of what's going on. A colleague of mine who’s a China specialist thinks Japan is more like China in this regard.
Time to read Laurie Freeman's book on information cartels in Japan.
