My answer is both yes and no. The economy has been changing in a positive manner, but the change is far from over. I would like to talk about changes in Japan's economy and its challenges from a somewhat longer-term perspective. "Because Japan has experienced decades-long stagnation, today's society is a very difficult place to live for you."
This comes from a children's educational comic book published in August 2013.1 This phrase reflects the general mood back then, when the economy was under prolonged stagnation. About 30 years have passed since the early 1990s, when the asset price bubble collapsed in Japan. Looking back, this 30-year period can be roughly divided into three separate decades.