Japan makes a downward revision to its latest growth figures and a famous French brand opens a new store in Tokyo.
Japan's economic recovery appears to be more fragile than previously thought.
Revised figures for its gross domestic product - the total value of the nation's goods and services - show that the economy expanded 0.3 percent in the three months to September - half of what the government announced earlier.
The latest GDP figures translate into an annual growth rate of 1.4 percent, down from 2.2 percent released last month.
Surprisingly, Economy Minister Heizo Takenaka told reporters that the discrepancy was due to a statistical error.
The Economy minister notes the government is staying with its initial view that the economy is slowly recovering.
Japan has been mired in an economic slowdown for more than a decade, despite the government's efforts to spark a revival.
One economic bright spot: foreign direct investment. It surged in Japan in the first half of the business year, jumping 55 percent compared with the same period last year.
The finance ministry says that foreign companies taking stakes in corporate Japan spent more than $9 billion between April and September. Much of that is due to foreigners buying up troubled Japanese companies or their assets at bargain prices.
The United States, which spent $1.7 billion, is the top investor in Japan, followed by the Netherlands.
French luxury goods maker Christian Dior is riding out Japan's economic slump in style. It has just opened a huge new Tokyo store, which drew a crowd of more than 1,000 shoppers.
Christian Dior spent more than $36 million on the new four-floor outlet in Tokyo's fashionable Omotesando district. That brings its total number of stores in Japan to 26, with 152 worldwide.