The difference between the averages of Japan’s inflation rate and those of the G-7 countries remained mostly unchanged: approximately 1.9 percent for the first ten years from 1985 and around 2.0 percent for the 15 years thereafter, when Japan’s economy fell into deflation.
This indicates that, during the 25 years as a whole, Japan and the other major economies generally experienced a long downtrend in their inflation rates. I see in this the possibility that Japan’s deflation might have been brought about by the downtrend in global inflation.