One of the reasons behind this is that, due to the long experience of a severe employment situation under deflation, both labor and management have come to prioritize the stability of long-term employment over wage increases, and this behavior has been deeply entrenched even after wages started rising.
The lack of strength in the virtuous cycle also is attributable to the fact that firms have absorbed the upward pressure of costs such as personnel expenses by raising productivity, and only moderately passed on such cost increases to selling prices. Some of you might think that raising wages and selling prices amid a situation of severe competition is not a viable option.