RE: Japan Inc. offlline for about a yr....IMOAs swpb & boredhousewife have said, the slack will be picked up by other countries.
As for political unrest, the Japanese have a very different mind set then in the West. I doubt we would see that type of reaction.
On the debt, you said "who's going to buy their bonds". Most of the Japanese debt is internal, owned by Japanese.
They have already injected over $180 B early in the crisis. Once they start rebuilding, that will be good for their economy (though i'm sure they would have prefered another way to help their economy along).
This will definetely be a major bump in the road, but once the crisis is over and they start looking at the future & rebuilding, things can change quickly.
Time will tell
jmho
P-Air