I actually don't believe that these statistics (GDP ranking, etc) are all that useful, for many reasons. I'm just saying that one of the ways Germany and the rest of Europe have pulled ahead, despite having "structural" issues that US neoliberals drone on about incessantly, is with immigration. Japan is notoriously anti-immigrant. This raises its labor costs and creates a more insular culture that fails to adapt quickly enough. Now, its culture might be fine with that, and I respect that choice (up to the point that it becomes racist). Growth isn't everything, and as we see contributes much towards the climate destabilization we are experiencing.