The Japanese economy has entered its first recession since 2001 after shrinking 0.1% in the third quarter.The world's second-biggest economy had previous shrunk by 0.9% in the April to June quarter."The downtrend in the economy will continue for the time being as global growth slows," said Japanese Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano.The eurozone officially slipped into recession last week, and the US is expected to follow."We need to bear in mind that economic conditions could worsen further as the US and European financial crisis deepens, worries of economic downturn heighten and stock and foreign exchange markets make big swings," Mr Yosano added.The benchmark Nikkei share index fell on opening after the growth data was released, but it later rebounded and closed up 0.7%.Growth in Japan has been hit by the global economic slowdown which has curbed demand for Japanese exports."The risk of Japan posting a third or fourth straight quarterly contraction is growing, given the fact that we can no longer rely on exports," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
