> I'd chalk Japan's lost decades up to too much micromanaging by the Bank of Japan,

 
Read the book, the entire issue started when the Chicago School guys came back and said BoJ meddled too much that they had to move to a "free market" solution since those were the only thing that worked. Whoops!
https://www.amazon.com/Princes-Yen-Central-Bankers-Transformation/dp/0765610493
 
Prior to the 1980s Japan had basically a command economy pointed towards producing consumer goods.