ADB: Japan Likely to Return to Growth in 4Q The president of the Asian Development Bank says Japan's economy is expected to return to growth in the fourth quarter of this year and its recession will have little impact on Southeast Asian economies. Japan earlier this month said its economy, which is the world's third biggest after the U.S. and China, slipped into recession in the third quarter. It contracted 1.6 percent in the July-September period as consumer and corporate spending failed to gain momentum after a sales tax increase in April. Takehiko Nakao said Wednesday that Japan's economic figures were not encouraging but also cautioned against being "too pessimistic"