In 1995, in Tokyo's Ginza, under the neon lights, glasses were raised and drinks were exchanged. A certain Japanese entrepreneur, tipsy, boasted: "Next year, we'll buy Manhattan!" Back then, Japan was indeed wild, with a GDP accounting for 18% of the world, and the words "Made in Japan" were a golden sign.

Thirty years later, the same old man sits in a nursing home in the suburbs of Tokyo, staring blankly. Outside the window, cherry blossoms have fallen all over the ground, and he mutters: "It's not money that was lost, it's an entire era." Yesterday, the IMF released a report - by 2025, India's GDP will surpass Japan's. The once second largest economy in the world is about to drop to fourth place.

How did it end up like this? Four pits, each more deadly than the last.

**First Pitfall: Bet on the Wrong Track**
The whole world is working on electric vehicles, while Japan is stubbornly pursuing hydrogen energy. A certain executive from Toyota once said in a private conversation: "We thought that seizing hydrogen energy meant seizing the future, but now we have lost everything." What's even more amusing is that Nissan produced the Leaf electric vehicle back in 2010, starting even earlier than Tesla. However, the company poured all its resources into hydrogen energy, effectively squandering its leading advantage.

**The Second Pitfall: Living in a "Digital Island" from the Last Century**
In 2022, government agencies in Japan were still using floppy disks for office work. It's not nostalgia; it's real backwardness. While the world is racing towards the cloud, Japan is still clinging to fax machines and seals. This kind of closure is not just lagging behind; it has been directly left behind by the times.

The remaining two pits are even more severe—population crisis and industrial hollowing. With an aging population and declining birth rates, the workforce is falling away like a funnel; after the manufacturing industry relocated, the domestic industrial chain has been completely disrupted. Thirty years ago, Japan dared to say "buy Manhattan," but now it can't even buy back its own future.