Quick quiz. Who is the world biggest debtor nation?

I was reading a a lot online tonight concerning the US's current economic state and I came across this blog post on Wizbang.

One little fact I read in the post stunned me. Here is the passage.

"As the global credit crunch drives Japan into its first recession since 2001, the country is building roads and airports that have helped make it the world's most indebted major economy"

Japan has borrowed money every year since 1965 to finance its budget, saddling each household with the equivalent of 17 million yen ($182,000) in debt. The spending has pushed the government's debt to the highest among the Group of Seven economies -- 170 percent of annual gross domestic product last year, compared with 63 percent in the U.S., according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

This fact stunned me, I know Japan has been in a slower growth mode since it returned from it's 1990's malaise but I didn't think there was anyway they were more in debt that we were as a country.  As a Detroiter I just assumed Japan was doing just fine.  After all, we hear about how much better their auto industry everyday.  Why wouldn't their economy be growing.

I was even more stunned to learn that Japan's debt per citizen was 3 times higher than ours.

Eye opening to say the least.