New numbers released by the Japanese government indicate the country has entered a recession. Japan's economy, the second largest in the world, contracted by 0.1 percent in the third quarter, after shrinking 0.9 percent in the second quarter of the year. Japan has estimated that its Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted at an annualised rate of 0.4 percent. The Bank of Japan has also cut its key interest rate for the first time in more than seven years, lowering it to 0.3 per cent, joining central banks around the world in trimming borrowing costs. Japan joins Germany and Italy on the list of Group of Eight major economies that are officially in recession. The technical definition of a recession is two or more consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. Click Here to Subscribe t... 11/16/2008