Japan’s long-term debt has finally topped 1,000 trillion yen, which is double the country’s GDP. The finances of the Japanese national government, which were in extremely good shape right up until the collapse of the bubble economy, worsened during the “two lost decades.” Government spending swelled by 30 trillion yen while revenue shrunk by 20 trillion yen, and the government came to rely on debt to make up this shortfall of 50 trillion yen. But the solution to this problem is very simple: reduce spending by the 30-trillion-yen increase and boost revenue by the 20-trillion-yen decrease. That is the only way to fix things.