Japan's economy marks third-longest post-war recovery - Nikkei

The Nikkei, a Japanese daily, carries a report of the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute on the expectations for the Japanese economy.

Key Points:

Economic recovery likely continued through March

February reading of the Cabinet Office's index of business conditions, due out Friday, is expected to show continued improvement

March would mark the 52nd month of recovery since Shinzo Abe returned to the prime minister's office in December 2012

Edges out the 51-month expansion during Japan's asset-price bubble from 1986 to 1991

Should it last through September, it will surpass the 57-month recovery seen in the 1965-1970 "Izanagi boom" as well

Growth faltered after Japan raised the consumption tax in April 2014.

But "factors such as the depth and length of the dip, taken comprehensively, do not add up to a recession," says Yuji Shimanaka of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, a member of the cabinet research committee that determines the length of economic recoveries.