News Analysis Just like with Japan’s meteoric rise to the world’s number two economic power, followed by a crash and stagnation, many experts believe it is not inevitable that China will displace the United States. Following a similar path, during their rapid economic expansion, both Japan and China experienced a debt crisis and real estate bubble. In Japan, this led to the “lost decade” of lifeless economy during the 1990s. China may be headed the same way. Beginning in the 1960s, the Japanese economy was growing at an average rate of 10 percent per year. By the 1980s, Japan was the Asian miracle, having moved from one of the poorest to one of the richest countries in the world. The growth, however, was fueled by debt and an inflated real estate sector. The house of cards eventually came crashing down, and the term “Japanification” became synonymous with stagnation. Japanese property …