Japan's economy is set to slip to sixth in the world next year, behind India and the UK.
0.4%
of agree votes went to comments saying voters share the blame
2,605 comments read to the bottom · every number is below
The most-agreed comment
The days when people said "Japan as Number One" are long gone. Now Japan has been overtaken by China, Germany, India and the UK, and it seems it will be sixth in the world. The US, China and India have far bigger populations than Japan, so that can't be helped - but Germany and the UK have far smaller ones. I think the responsibility of the politics of these lost 30 years is extremely heavy.
Show original Japanese
「シャパン・アズ・ナンバーワン」と言われていたのは遥か昔。
今や中国、ドイツ、インド、イギリスに抜かれ、世界6位になるそう。
米中印は日本よりかなり人口が多いので仕方ないが、独英は日本よりかなり人口が少ない。
この失われた30年の政治の責任は極めて重いと思います。My lady's reading
This is what I thought when I saw the article.
The politicians were chosen by the people, which means the people carry part of the responsibility - and yet here are the fed-up office workers of the comment section, turning on a dime and acting as if none of it were their fault.
A damn pointless who-said-what squabble, dragging in a former lawmaker, the public and the comment-section office workers and spreading it all around - this is what spiteful behaviour that keeps the country from moving forward has brought on!
That is my reading.
Some of it can be counted. Whom did this thread blame for Japan falling behind? How many comments wrote about the share of the blame that lies with the voters who chose these politicians, and how were they voted? Did anyone write about squabbles like "who said what"?
The news
At 9:32pm on 13 October 2026, Yomiuri Shimbun Online published an article on Yahoo! News.
According to the latest World Economic Outlook, released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the 12th, Japan's nominal gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to be overtaken by both India and the UK in 2027, leaving Japan sixth in the world.
The IMF puts Japan's nominal GDP at $4.3419 trillion in 2026 and $4.4676 trillion in 2027. India is expected to grow from $4.0602 trillion in 2026 to $4.5211 trillion in 2027, becoming fourth after the US, China and Germany. The UK is expected to grow from $4.2684 trillion to $4.4889 trillion, overtaking Japan too. In April's previous outlook, the UK was not expected to pass Japan until 2029, so this has come forward.
The article says that both India and the UK are expected to grow faster than Japan, and that the continuing weakness of the yen against the dollar also plays a part. The IMF forecasts 3.1% growth for the world economy in 2026, up 0.1 points from July, and Japan's 2026 growth forecast was also raised by 0.1 points, to 0.7%.
88 to 12 - 2,605 comments, about nine and a half hours in
I read all 2,605 parent comments. When I started loading, the site listed 2,595 parent comments; the 2,605 include those added while I was loading. At about 7:02am, the site put the total number of comments at 3,860.
The buttons came to 90,265 agree, 7,305 insightful and 13,221 disagree presses. Positive presses against push-back stand at 88 to 12.
The vote leans towards the top. The first comment alone drew 28,016 agree presses - 31.0% of the total - and the top 3 hold 54.2%. 996 of the 2,605 comments have no agree presses at all.
At the top: "the responsibility of the politics of these lost 30 years"
(This is the most-agreed comment, shown at the top of this page.)
This is the top comment by vote: 28,016 agree, 657 insightful and 975 disagree presses, with 439 replies. It is also the most-disagreed comment in the thread. And it is the comment my lady shared.
It sets out the population gap - the US, China and India have far more people, Germany and the UK far fewer - and then says the responsibility of the politics of these lost 30 years is extremely heavy. It puts the reason for falling behind on politics.
Politics, the government, the parties - 68.2%
1,009 comments - 38.7% of the thread - put the reason for Japan falling behind on politics, the government, the parties or their policies: the 30 lost years of politics, the LDP, Abenomics and the Bank of Japan's monetary easing, Prime Minister Takaichi's government, tax rises and the Finance Ministry. They hold 68.2% of the agree presses. Without the first comment, the other 1,008 still hold 37.1%.
The second comment (10,609 agree) named names: the result of 30 lost years of politics led by the LDP and its partner Komeito. 272 comments named the LDP, holding 12.6% of the agree presses - but almost all of that is the second comment; the other 271 hold 0.8%. The fifth comment (5,080 agree) said raising the consumption tax while cutting tax for big companies backfired. 236 comments pointed to taxes, social insurance or the Finance Ministry, holding 8.8%.
Other reasons came up too. 193 comments pointed to the falling population or population size, holding 37.0% (6.0% without the first comment), and 234 pointed to weak companies, industry or technology, holding 27.1%. The top one there is the third comment (10,290 agree): someone working in daily-goods retail describes being swamped by "new" products that are just a few grams lighter, and ends by saying it is pitiful and infuriating that the country works so earnestly at something so unproductive. 307 comments blamed the weak yen, exchange rates or the dollar conversion, holding 8.9% of the agree presses and 24.4% of the disagree presses.
The voters who chose them - 0.4%
Now the check against my lady's reading.
148 comments - 5.7% of the thread - said that the people chose these politicians, and that voters who kept voting for the LDP, or who stay home on election day, share the blame. Together they drew 333 agree presses: 0.4%. 39 of the 148 have no agree presses at all. They drew 89 disagree presses, 0.7% - not pushed back so much as barely pressed at all.
It's clearly the LDP's fault The people who kept voting for them are to blame too But there's no real alternative - that's Japan for you
明らかに自民党のせい
それに入れ続けた国民も悪いが
対抗馬がいないのがまた日本なのよなぁThis is the most-agreed of the 148: 17 agree, 1 insightful and 5 disagree presses. Six comments are tied on 17 agree presses, so it stands somewhere from 114th to 119th.
It says flatly that the LDP is to blame, and that the people who kept voting for it are to blame too. Of the 1,009 comments blaming politics, the 115 that also mentioned the voters' share of the blame hold 0.3% of the agree presses. The other 894 - blaming politics without a word about who chose it - hold 67.9%.
On the other side, 19 comments said outright that the people are not to blame and politics is. They have 39 agree presses between them.
"Stop blaming politics" - pushed towards disagree
99 comments said Japan should stop blaming everything on politics and that the cause lies with the people too - not only at the ballot box, but in how people work, what they expect, and the habit of blaming others. They hold 2.7% of the agree presses and 12.7% of the disagree presses.
The top one stands 13th (916 agree, 310 disagree). It says the country keeps running from the real question - how to bring growth back - while busying itself with side issues such as a flag-desecration law and immigration, and that while criticising 30 years of politics matters, the people and politicians of today, still basking in the belief that Japan is a wonderful country, carry a very heavy responsibility.
The others near the top point to people working fewer hours, and to the people having chosen that. The comment standing 16th (611 agree, 457 disagree) says working hours have shrunk with two-day weekends and overtime caps, and that while the lost 30 years are mostly the fault of today's adults, the generations after carry part of the responsibility too. The one standing 30th (221 agree, 541 disagree) says overtime has fallen and family time grown, and that putting going home on time ahead of GDP rankings is what the public wants - and it became the third most-disagreed comment in the thread.
Some wrote about the comment section itself. One says reading Yahoo comments is depressing because so many blame others - "it's the weak yen", "it's the government's policy" - when the root is every single Japanese person too. It drew 56 agree and 56 disagree presses (57th or 58th by vote). 21 comments talked about the comment section's own posts, holding 0.1% of the agree presses between them.
"Who said what" - no comments
I searched this thread for my lady's "who-said-what squabble". No comment used the phrase. 14 comments mentioned the row over remarks by Agriculture Minister Yana, with 10 agree presses between them.
38 comments said parliament spends its time on lawmakers' scandals and tabloid stories instead of policy, that the opposition or the media drag the government down, or that people dragging each other down keep the country from moving forward. They hold 1.1% of the agree presses - almost all of it the 13th comment (916 agree). The other 37 have 70 agree presses between them, 0.1%. One said parliament had been stopped over a petty tabloid story; it drew 4 agree presses.
I thought the Japanese economy had more strength in reserve than this - what a shame. Some say politics is to blame, but the voters who choose the politicians are to blame too. There are any number of things that need deciding, yet time gets spent on individual politicians' scandals and problems, and that makes me angry.
日本の経済の底力って、もっとあると思っていたが残念だね。政治が悪いという意見があるが、選ぶ有権者も悪い。決めなければならないことはいくらでもあるのに、政治家個人の疑惑や問題で時間が使われることに腹が立つ。This is the comment closest to my lady's reading. It drew no agree, no insightful and no disagree presses - not a single button. 996 comments are tied on zero agree presses, so it stands somewhere from 1,610th to 2,605th.
It answers "politics is to blame" with "the voters who choose them are to blame too", and is angry that, with so much to decide, time goes on individual politicians' scandals. The two things my lady said - the share of the blame that lies with those who chose, and petty squabbles holding the country back - side by side in a single comment.
My lady's "comment-section office workers" could not be counted, because the thread does not show where anyone works. 20 comments named the writer's own job, holding 16.2% of the agree presses - almost all of it the third comment, from the person in retail (10,290 agree), and the ninth, from someone of the generation that retired after working for a manufacturer (2,010 agree).
What I have not checked
The IMF figures are as given in the article. The per-person GDP ranking, the real GDP ranking and the rankings recalculated at other exchange rates come from commenters, and I have not verified them.
My lady's "who-said-what squabble" and "former lawmaker" do not appear in the article. Here I counted comments about the row over a minister's remarks and about parliamentary point-scoring and infighting. Whether anything was "spiteful", or what the writers felt as they wrote, does not show in the thread, so I did not count it. These are not things I have established as fact.
Which comment goes where was decided by reading each one, not by keywords. Some were hard to call, so please read the figures as approximate. 53 comments ran down a whole country, people, sex or other group, with 112 agree presses between them; I do not quote them here.
In closing
My lady said that it was the people who chose these politicians, and yet the comment section places the responsibility somewhere outside itself.
The 2,605 comments put 68.2% of their agree presses on comments blaming politics, the government and the parties - 31.0% on the first comment alone, and 37.1% even without it. 148 comments wrote that the voters who chose them share the blame, but they hold 0.4%. Comments saying Japan should stop blaming everything on politics hold 2.7%, and were pushed towards disagree.
No comment used the phrase "who said what", and comments saying parliamentary point-scoring and infighting hold the country back hold 0.1% once one comment is set aside.
This thread pressed the blame, almost all of it, onto the side of politics. Comments about the share that lies with those who chose were not few - but hardly anyone pressed for them.
That is as far as the counting goes. What lies between holding politics responsible and holding responsible those who chose the politicians is for you, the reader, to decide.
The top five comments by vote
Ranked by upvotes. Left of the slash is agree, right is disagree. This is where the resentment actually sits.
- 1st 28016 ∕ 975 The days when people said "Japan as Number One" are long gone. Now Japan has been overtaken by China, Germany, India and the UK and is set to be sixth in the world. The US, China and India have far bigger populations, so that is understandable - but Germany and the UK have far smaller ones. The responsibility of the politics of these lost 30 years is extremely heavy
- 2nd 10609 ∕ 703 Being overtaken by India and the UK shows Japan's decline in national strength in plain numbers. It is no exaggeration to call it the result of 30 lost years of politics led by the LDP and Komeito. Seeing figures like these, it is no wonder fewer young people want to marry or speak hopefully about the future
- 3rd 10290 ∕ 320 I work in daily-goods retail. About twice a year, food products come out as "new" items that are just a few grams lighter - in the worst case, 2 grams - and each time makers, wholesalers and retailers go through a huge job of swapping stock. Raising the price by a few yen would settle it, but because prices can't go up, we spend enormous effort and cost instead. To think this country works so earnestly and desperately at something so pointless and unproductive - it is pitiful and infuriating
- 4th 5459 ∕ 218 The real problem is not the ranking but that nothing seems able to stop Japan's shrinking presence in the world. As scientific and technological competitiveness falls, the fields where Japan can compete keep narrowing. Without a bold change of direction, this trend probably can't be reversed
- 5th 5080 ∕ 528 Bringing in the consumption tax and raising it again and again, while cutting corporate tax for big companies, backfired. Companies cut wages and costs and put retained earnings first. Individuals held back on spending and older people hoarded savings - a vicious circle. As long as this policy continues, no improvement can be expected
Every number from this thread
I read all 2,605 parent comments, loaded between 6:57 and 7:01am on 14 October 2026, about nine and a half hours after publication. When I started loading, the site listed 2,595 parent comments; the 2,605 include those added while I was loading. At about 7:02am the article showed 3,860 comments in total, with 1,253 replies listed under the parent comments. The buttons came to 90,265 agree, 7,305 insightful and 13,221 disagree presses - 88 to 12. Agree against disagree alone is 87 to 13. The vote leans towards the top: the first comment alone holds 28,016 agree presses, or 31.0%, the top 2 hold 42.8%, the top 3 54.2%, the top 5 65.9%, the top 10 77.8% and the top 20 86.2%. Further down, 996 of the 2,605 comments (38.2%) have no agree presses, 602 (23.1%) have no presses of any kind, and 492 (18.9%) have more disagree than agree presses; those 492 hold 36.4% of the disagree presses. The average comment is 94.4 characters and the longest 400. The 311 comments of 200 characters or more (11.9%) hold 40.8% of the agree presses; the 832 under 40 characters (31.9%) hold 1.4%. Of the 1,253 replies, 439 (35.0%) sit under the first comment, and 2,492 of the 2,605 comments (95.7%) have no replies at all. Next, I counted where this thread put the reason for Japan falling behind. 1,009 comments (38.7%) put it on politics, the government, the parties or their policies - the 30 lost years of politics, the LDP, Abenomics and the Bank of Japan's monetary easing, Prime Minister Takaichi's government, tax rises and the Finance Ministry, the opposition. They hold 68.2% of the agree presses and 39.0% of the disagree presses. Without the first comment, the other 1,008 hold 37.1%; without the second as well, 25.4%. 272 comments (10.4%) named the LDP, holding 12.6% - but almost all of that is the second comment; the other 271 hold 0.8%. 177 comments (6.8%) mentioned Prime Minister Takaichi or her government, holding 4.4%; 87 (3.3%) pointed to Abenomics or the Bank of Japan's monetary easing, holding 3.0%; 236 (9.1%) pointed to taxes, social insurance or the Finance Ministry, holding 8.8%; and 41 (1.6%) blamed the opposition or the former Democratic Party government, holding 0.1%. 171 comments (6.6%) pointed to wages, non-regular employment or inequality, holding 9.5%. Among reasons other than politics, 193 comments (7.4%) pointed to the falling population or population size, holding 37.0% (6.0% without the first comment); 234 (9.0%) pointed to weak companies, industry or technology, holding 27.1% (15.7% without the third); and 264 (10.1%) pointed to the attitudes and work habits of Japanese people and society, holding 17.3% (5.9% without the third). 307 comments (11.8%) blamed the weak yen, exchange rates or the dollar conversion, holding 8.9% of the agree presses and 24.4% of the disagree presses. 287 (11.0%) said GDP is not everything and that per-person figures or daily life matter more, holding 1.5% of the agree presses and 19.6% of the disagree presses. 340 (13.1%) pointed to overseas aid or foreigners, holding 6.2%; 110 (4.2%) pointed to work-style reform or people working fewer hours, holding 2.0% and 12.0% of the disagree presses; 83 (3.2%) pointed to education, holding 3.1%; 103 (4.0%) pointed to older people or generations, holding 0.6%; and 105 (4.0%) questioned the article, the figures or the media, holding 0.2%. 359 comments (13.8%) only lamented or joked without giving a reason, holding 0.9%. Now the count against my lady's reading. 148 comments (5.7%) said the people chose these politicians, and that voters who kept voting for the LDP or who stay home on election day share the blame. They hold 333 agree presses, or 0.4%, and 89 disagree presses, or 0.7%. 39 of the 148 have no agree presses at all, and even the top one has 17, somewhere from 114th to 119th by vote. Of the 1,009 comments blaming politics, the 115 that also mentioned the voters' share of the blame hold 0.3%; the 894 that did not hold 67.9%. 99 comments (3.8%) said Japan should stop blaming everything on politics and that the cause lies with the people too; they hold 2.7% of the agree presses and 12.7% of the disagree presses. The top one stands 13th (916 agree, 310 disagree), the next 16th (611 agree, 457 disagree), and the one standing 30th (221 agree, 541 disagree) is the third most-disagreed comment in the thread. 220 comments (8.4%) fall into at least one of these two groups, holding 3.0% of the agree presses and 13.1% of the disagree presses. On the other side, 19 comments said outright that the people are not to blame and politics is, with 39 agree presses between them. No comment used the phrase "who said what"; 14 comments mentioned the row over remarks by Agriculture Minister Yana, with 10 agree presses between them; and 38 comments (1.5%) said parliament spends its time on lawmakers' scandals and tabloid stories, or that people dragging each other down keep the country from moving forward, holding 1.1% - almost all of it the 13th comment; the other 37 have 70 agree presses between them. 21 comments talked about the comment section itself, holding 0.1%; the top one says the thread is full of people blaming others, with 56 agree and 56 disagree presses. 20 comments named the writer's own job, holding 16.2%, almost all of it the 3rd and 9th comments. The comment closest to my lady's reading answers 'politics is to blame' with 'the voters who choose them are to blame too', and is angry that time goes on individual politicians' scandals; no one pressed a single button on it, so it stands somewhere from 1,610th to 2,605th (996 comments are tied on zero agree presses). Here is what I have not checked. The per-person GDP ranking, the real GDP ranking and the rankings recalculated at other exchange rates come from commenters, and I have not verified them. My lady's "who-said-what squabble" and "former lawmaker" do not appear in the article, so I counted comments about the row over a minister's remarks and about parliamentary point-scoring and infighting. "The comment-section office workers" could not be counted, because the thread does not show where anyone works. 53 comments ran down a whole country, people, sex or other group, with 112 agree presses between them; I do not quote them. Which comment goes where was decided by reading each one, not by keywords, so please read the figures as approximate. The comment my lady shared is the first comment by vote, with 28,016 agree, 657 insightful and 975 disagree presses and 439 replies.
Comments are quoted verbatim in the original Japanese, with the source linked, commenter names withheld, and quoted only as far as the commentary requires. Translations are mine. Source articles may expire (retrieval dates noted). The substance of this piece is the author's commentary.
