Germany the Next Japan?

The German economy is in a hole, and it can't stop digging. The tools that normally help an economy to get out of a hole are digging Germany further in. Hamstrung by the terms of the Stability and Growth Pact, it is planning a substantial tightening of fiscal policy over the next few years. And, with inflation below the Eurozone average and falling, and nominal interest rates set by the ECB, real monetary conditions are tightening as well: this at a time when Germany is already in recession. How long before the German economy sets off on the deflationary path trodden in Japan over the last decade?