The Japanese government has admitted the country is facing its biggest crisis since the second world war in the shape of the global economic slowdown.

Japan – the world’s second-largest economy – has seen its key export industries of cars and technology severely hit by the recession being felt within and outside of its borders.

Data released on Monday showed that its economy shrank 3.3 per cent during the last quarter of 2008, the worst figures since the global oil crisis of the mid-1970s.

Economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano said the economy had been “literally battered” during the end of last year.

“This is the worst ever crisis in the post-war era. There is no doubt about it,” he told reporters.

“Japan alone won’t be able to recover. The economy has no border. It is our responsibility to rebuild the domestic economy for other countries.”

The minister’s words have been given added meaning by the arrival of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Tokyo.

Mrs Clinton, Washington’s senior diplomat, has broken tradition by visiting an Asian country in her first official overseas trip since becoming secretary of state.

“[The trip is] a very big part of how we’re going to demonstrate the Obama administration’s approach to dealing with the multitude of problems that we see, but also the opportunities as well,” she told reporters en route to Japan ahead of trips to Indonesia, South Korea and China.

“This region is indispensible to our efforts to seize the opportunities and meet the challenges of the 21st century, and it is part of a larger context in which we intend to create networks of partners in order to deal with the problems that no nation, even ours, can deal with alone.”