Not as bad as it was 20 years ago - which most of the stereotypes continue to perpetuate.

Hours worked are roughly comparable between the Scandinavian 4 and Japan [3]

Israel and Korea are the new Japan

> economic stagnation

Not much more different from Sweden or Finland, or Denmark+Norway once you exclude high value but low employment industries like biopharma and oil respectively.

Japanese GDP growth rates, interest rates, TFR, and median incomes largely converge with Northern Europe (or more like, Northern Europe converged with Japan by the 2000s).

Edit: can't reply to OP

Household disposable income is roughly comparable between DK and JP [0]

GDP growth rate is roughly comparable between DK and JP [1]

The only difference between DK and JP is age [2], but Denmark's demographics align with Japan's from 10 years ago, and given that Denmark's economic metrics have already aligned with Japan, it's safe to say that what Japan is today is what Denmark will converge to within the next 5-10 years.

If Japan is collapsing, then so is the rest of Northern Europe. If Northern Europe is booming, then so is Japan.

[0] - https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/household-disposable...

[1] - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locat...

[2] - https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/median-age/coun...

[3] - https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/hours-worked.html?oe...