Japan economy slips into recession - in pictures

A woman wearing a kimono walks at Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. Yuya Shino / Reuters

A man pushes a cart loaded with his belongings outside the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

People smoke cigarettes at a smoking booth on a street in Tokyo. Issei Kato / Reuters

People try out laptops displayed at an electronics retail store in Tokyo on November, 16, 2014. Yuya Shino / Reuters

A man takes a nap along a street next to his belongings as pedestrians walk past at Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. Gross domestic product shrank by an annualised 1.6 per cent in July-September, after plunging 7.3 per cent in the second quarter following a rise in the national sales tax, which clobbered consumer spending.Yuya Shino / Reuters

A man walks at the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. The world's third-largest economy had been forecast to rebound by 2.1 per cent, but consumption and exports remained weak, saddling companies with huge inventories to work off. Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

A businessman sits near a cargo area at a port in Tokyo. Economy Minister Akira Amari said some economic stimulus was likely, but added it would be hard to craft an exceptionally big package because of the need for fiscal discipline. Toru Hanai / Reuters

Job seekers attend a job fair held for fresh graduates in Tokyo. Sluggish growth and easing price pressures due to sliding global oil prices prompted the Bank of Japan to unexpectedly expand its massive monetary stimulus last month. Yuya Shino / Reuters

A man walks inside an office building in Tokyo. On a quarterly basis, the economy shrank 0.4 per cent in the third quarter after a revised 1.9 per cent decrease in April-June. Economists had expected growth of 0.5 percent. Yuya Shino / Reuters

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe (centre) shouts "Banzai!" (cheers) as he throws his hands in the air with members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) during the annual party convention in Tokyo in January. Yuya Shino / Reuters

The silhouette of Japan's Mount Fuji is seen beyond buildings in Tokyo. Wage growth has not kept pace with price rises, so a key mechanism of Abenomics is not working yet. Toru Hanai / Reuters

Japan’s economy unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter, setting the stage for prime minister Shinzo Abe to delay an unpopular sales tax hike and call a snap election.