China has formally overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy.
Japanese government figures mark the end of an era for Japan, which has been the second-biggest economy in the world for more than 40 years.
Japan has been hit by a drop in exports and consumer demand, while China has enjoyed a manufacturing boom.
At its current rate of growth, analysts see China replacing the US as the world's top economy in about a decade.
While Japan was expected to fall behind a surging China in the year, the data underlined the weak state of a Japanese economy burdened by deflation, soft domestic demand and pressured by the industrialised world's biggest debt.
While China's leap forward reflects a shift in economic power as the country transforms itself from poverty-hit communist state to global heavyweight, it highlights the need for shrinking Japan to energise its economy.
Japan's post-war 'economic miracle' put it at number two behind the US for more than four decades, but stagnation after the Japanese property bubble burst in the 1990s helped put booming China on course to supplant its neighbour.
However, Japan remains around ten times richer on a per-capita basis, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Predictions vary as to when China may overtake the US as number one economy, but it should happen by 2025, according to estimates by the World Bank, Goldman Sachs and others.
