In Brief

Not only is Japan’s economy contracting at least twice as fast as its peers, with data on Monday showing the worst quarterly performance for a third of a century, but Japanese politics also seem about to implode.

The standing of Taro Aso, prime minister, in the opinion polls is in free fall. His statement last week that he had opposed privatising the country’s huge postal savings system when he served in the government of Junichiro Koizumi – a comment that, like so many others he has made, he subsequently backed away from – appeared to be more than his predecessor but two could take.