Japan’s economy grew at an annual rate of 4.1% for January-March amid a gradual recovery from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of the previous year.

Japan’s economy contracted during the April-June quarter at an annual rate of 2.1%, worse than the initial estimate, the government said today, underlining the damage from the March earthquake disaster.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 made its highly anticipated debut in Japan to long queues today, with local stores selling out of their supplies of the video game console.

Nintendo thinks it has the answer for people scared off by all the complex switches and buttons on home video-game controllers – a simpler device that looks like a TV remote control and can be waved like a wand or a baseball bat.