In Japan gibt es zum ersten Mal seit 30 Jahren mehr als 900 Restaurantpleiten. Warum gehen sie pleite, obwohl die Kunden zurückkommen? (Spoiler – Arbeitskräftemangel, steigende Arbeitskosten)

I don’t think this is Japan specific. It is a reflection of the times.
Particularly that the middle class has been squeezed. Mid level restaurants can’t survive as consumers either go really cheap (Saizeriya and the like) or really expensive. Wealthy will go for luxury experiences, and non wealthy would rather save and have the rare luxury experience than the increasingly underwhelming average experience a mid level restaurants will provide.

Of course, all factors such as labor shortage, labor costs, rising prices, fall in service quality, etc have made it even harder to survive, but I also see this as a reflection of the growing disparity between haves and have nots.