It is a mediocre kind of recession. Japan’s banks have not blown up, its housing sector has not collapsed, and the mood is one of glum resignation, but in its economic weakness Japan is paying the price for its reliance on growth overseas. There is now only one option left: Japan must boost consumption at home, or else mirror the suffering of its export markets.

Growth for the third quarter was revised down from an annualised minus 0.4 to minus 1.8 per cent. That is bad, even though Japan’s output data are notoriously volatile, and the main cause of the revision was deeper falls in business inventories. Inventory is not infinite.