Eli5: How can some country have trillions of dollar in debt like Japan but still functional without any consequences?

Question

Eli5: How can some country have trillions of dollar in debt like Japan but still functional without any consequences?

In: 101

Answer 1

“Without any consequences”?! Japan went from suffering a “lost decade” of economic growth in the 1990s to “lost decade**s**”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Decades