E
mmanuel Macron has some very good reasons to visit Japan; let us recall them. In France, it is too easily forgotten that Japan consistently ranks among the world's top democracies. The Ghosn affair [2018-2020] offers a telling example. In the Economist Intelligence Unit's ranking, which has been published since 2006, Japan has always ranked higher than France, except in 2019.
Unlike France, which was classified in 2025 among the "flawed democracies," Japan is considered a "full democracy." Commentators often speak of "Japanese decline," particularly demographics, as the country's population is decreasing. Yet Japan still has 125 million inhabitants – roughly double that of France, Spain or Italy.
Japan is also said to be in economic decline because it experienced a long period of deflation and its share of the global economy has fallen with China's rise. Nevertheless, according to the World Bank, Japan remains the world's fourth-largest economy; France ranks seventh. It is rarely noted that, far more than France, Japan remains a manufacturing powerhouse.
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