I think that the real strength of a country comes from the amount of natural resources it has, because utlimately that's what we all consume. Human kind does not produce any thing, we just consume. Even basic things such as agriculture, hat we think we produce, are nothing but the consumption of land and
water.
So without the basic ingradients, Japan has little choice. Since they don't have any resources to consume except human resources, all they can do is work day and night. (As I understand, it is already happening
)
But then competition is everywhere, so every body in every country is working very hard. So that makes the situation of Japan extremely tough. They can't keep on selling their "brain output" (electronic gadgets etc) to others because now others also have the same knowledgebase and don't need to buy it. Earlier, Japanese gadgets were the ultimate...but now the same (or better) products are being developed by countries like China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Currently, Japanese cars are the best but I don't think this will last long. Korean cars are already getting better and I wouldn't be surprised if Chinese cars become hot in the next decade or so.
So over all, I don't think it has any future. Of course, this is just a theory.