Japan's economy shrinks for first time in time in two years, as private consumption and capital expenditure slowed, government data has showed.
The third largest economy of the world fell at an annualised rate of 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, the data showed on Wednesday.
That marked the end of the longest sequence of growth since a 12-quarter run between April-June 1986 and January-March 1989 during the asset-inflated bubble economy, reports Reuters.
The preliminary reading for first-quarter gross domestic product compared with a median estimate of a 0.2 per cent annualised contraction in a Reuters poll of economists.
It followed a downwardly revised 0.6 per cent annualised rate of expansion in the fourth quarter, the Cabinet Office data showed.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP shrank 0.2 per cent, versus the median estimate for a GDP to remain unchanged.