Will recoveries be W-shaped in years to come?

You can see it in the body language when speaking with Japanese officials.

It's a kind of physical resignation that, well, here we go again: deflation, negligible growth, political maneuvering. There is also an air of lament that Japan is an example of what many economies don't want to become.

I could see it in Hiroshi Nakaso's eyes last week, as the Bank of Japan executive director explained, for the umpteenth time, why interest rates in Asia's biggest economy are near zero percent. The same goes for Hiroko Ota, Japan's former economic and fiscal policy minister.