The purpose of a bar chart is to establish VISUAL proportions.
The numbering is correct.
The proportion is absurd.
The lower 80% of the chart has been chopped off.
Re: “Not sure why you think the World Bank is conspiring to deceive you or to what end, but whatever.”
I don't think that. I thought you deliberately sectioned off the chart to create a sensational visual impact.
Re: Currency
It looks like your World Bank chart is expressing Japanese GDP in nominal US Dollars, which means the wild swings are due mostly to the relative trading value of the Dollar-Yen.
Here is a link to a 30 year World Bank line chart that tracks Japanese GDP per capita in constant Purchase Parity Dollars.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD?locations=JP
Since the 2009 Recession crater, inflation adjusted Japanese GDP has increased every year for nine consecutive years.
Yeah, they've bounced around 1% GDP growth.
I'm not saying it's the end of the world but our whole fiscal structure is built on the expectation of at least twice that.
Without a growing population you're pretty much limited to the rate of productivity growth, which hasn't been that high.