Japan in technical recession

The Japanese economy entered a technical recession after previous gross domestic product figures were revised down on Wednesday to show three consecutive quarters of negative growth, but an official said the government was not ready to use the word recession.
Japan’s economy shrank 0.1 per cent in the three months to December from the previous quarter, below economists’ forecast of positive 0.1 per cent growth, the Cabinet Office said. The government also revised down Japan’s GDP in the July-September quarter to a 0.3 per cent contraction from the previous estimate of 0.1 per cent growth.

Two quarters of economic contraction technically constitute a recession.

In the April-June quarter, Japan’s economy shrank 0.2 per cent from the previous quarter.

Australian Financial Review