Yeah I’m no economist but “Japanification” has always seemed like a likely outcome for China. Every so-called emerging economy eventually finishes its rapid growth phase, and then they’ll be faced with slower or no growth, a shrinking population, and competition with cheaper countries with lower living standards.
It doesn’t truly seem like such a bad thing to me, I mean the Japanese seems to be doing alright, but in terms of economic development it’s a big downer.