The slump following the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis may be too short-lived to be called a recession, economists advising the government say.

"The plunge was rapid and steep, but the economy was fortunately able to bottom out very quickly," Yuji Shimanaka, chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co., said in an interview. "What will follow now is a V-shaped recovery."

Shimanaka and Koichi Haji, part of a seven-member panel that advises the Cabinet Office on business cycles, say the contraction is likely to be shorter than the five-month minimum for an official recession.