Japan economic growth

Japan's economy is on a hot streak and it has cashed-up shoppers to thank.

A spending frenzy in the run up to Christmas has helped drive an eighth straight quarter of growth.

GDP ticked up 0.5% between October and December.

Imports also soared 2.9%, fuelled by plenty of demand.

The numbers weren't quite as strong what economists were forecasting but Japan hasn't strung together this much back-to-back expansion since the bubble economy of the 1980s.

The country's central bank is keeping a close eye on this winning run as well.

It needs to hit an elusive inflation target of 2% and with these numbers, feels there might be some momentum building to finally reach that.