Again your refusing to either understand or acknowledge my main point, that Japan lost RELATIVE to everyone else.  And that profoundly DOSE matter.  If were watching a race and the lead runner is 100 yard ahead of the pack and someone shoots him in the leg and he falls down and starts crawling and the pack of other runners start rapidly closing the 100 yard distance but haven't yet over taken the now crippled runner.  You can not rationally claim that because the shoot runner hasn't fallen behind (yet) that being shot 'wasn't so bad'.

Yes our growth in the US/UK has been going all to the 1% POST REAGAN/THATCHER, before that growth got distributed a lot better.  Japan though has always had higher equality both Before AND After it's lost decades, it is simply a part of their culture.  CEO's of huge Japaneese companies make only 10x what a line-worker makes, inheritance taxes are up in the 90% range and their Gini values are one of the best outside of Europe.  But their is nothing to suggest a link between a nations income-inequality and it's growth or lack of growth.

You argument that deflation doesn't matter is absurd particularly when applied to Japan, IF that economy had continued to grow the 99% would have been the primary beneficiaries, they would have seen living standards grow to perhaps the highest in the world.  The disaster is the difference in what could have been and what actually happened.

Now apply the same deflationary economy to an highly UN-equal society and you will actually ratchet DOWN the wealth and standard of living of the 99% as every downward dip will pick the pocket of the worker and every recovery is funneled to the 1%.  An unequal society only lets the common man improve his living standards when their is an all out BOOM, that's why we have such a huge emphasis on achieving high growth.