Recession hits Japan, but layoffs are rare

In the dog-eat-dog world of capitalism, free-market nations let the natural forces of supply and demand determine what is produced and consumed.

But that's not what's happening in the land of the rising sun. The financial crisis and accompanying lack of demand has forced Japan's economy into it's worst contraction since 1955, with GDP declining at a 15.2 percent annualized rate in Q1, The Washington Post (WPO) reported Wednesday. And yet a smaller portion of Japan's workers have lost their jobs in Japan than in the United States. How is this possible?