Japan's economy shrank an annualised 1.3 per cent in the April-June quarter following the March 11 quake and tsunami disaster, data showed on Monday, beating market expectations of a 2.7-per cent contraction.
Post-disaster falls in consumer spending and in April exports were the main causes of the third straight quarterly
contraction, analysts said.
But other recent data have started to show signs of recovery in the world's third biggest economy, as industrial supply chains have been restored and post-quake reconstruction has picked up along the tsunami-hit coast.
"I think we will see clear signs of recovery in the July-September quarter," said Taro Saito, a senior economist at NLI Research Institute.
Japan's triple calamity five months ago killed more than 20,000 people, devastated large areas of the northeast and sparked a nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, which continues to leak radiation into the environment.
