This is incredible: The Bank of Japan owns 52.0% of all domestic government bonds. By comparison, life insurers, banks, and pension funds hold 13.4%, 9.8%, and 8.9%, respectively. According to Bloomberg, the Japanese government now holds 7.8 trillion of debt. This makes the Japanese government the third most indebted government in the world, behind the US and China. Furthermore the Bank of Japan holds a whopping 4.1 trillion of government bonds on its balance sheet. Japan is in need of a major restructuring.