Japan's chronic budget deficit is a symptom, not the cause of the country's problems, If you own a factory and cut workers' wages by 5%, you can increase your profits. If, however, every employer cuts wages, as Japan's employers have been doing, then consumers can no longer afford to buy these employers' products. The result is recession. To avoid that, someone has to step in to substitute for the missing consumer demand. In Japan, that "someone" has been the government in the form of chronic budget deficits. That is the reason Japan's efforts to end the deficit have repeatedly failed. Japan cannot keep its economic head above water without those deficits. 

For details, see https://richardkatz.substack.com/p/how-low-wages-made-japan-a-deficit

Richard Katz

New Book: The Contest For Japan's Economic Future: Entrepreneurs Vs. Corporate Giants