Nowotny mentions Japan

Since the financial crisis, whenever any policymaker is asked about the parallels of their economy and the lost decade(s) in Japan, they generally deny even the possibility that they could be headed for a similar era of low growth/inflation.

Even Japanese central bankers deny the future of Japan could be like the past 20 years.

But the ECB's Nowotny just said the J-word.

"We have the problem that we could get into a Japan-style situation of low growth, inflation and interest rates," he said.

Could? Zero growth since 2008 says it's already happened.