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A lot of Japan's debt is also held domestically, meaning that it is less likely that investors will pull their money out. It is useful though to keep in mind that Italy and Greece for example ran into massive trouble by running up too much debt and investors losing confidence. 1 percentage point change in the interest rate the UK pays, say a move back to the average for 1998-2011, would cost roughly 20bn or 2.5% of the UK budget ( very roughly) . Also depends on what you spend the borrowed money on.
hesa
Unless you're predicting interest rates post-Brexit, take another look at cost of government borrowing. Then take discounting into consideration. The UK should have been borrowing over the last handful of years and doing exactly that.
Additionally, Japan's problem is also demographic. Comparisons are not particularly useful.