Japan\'s service sector activity shrank by the fastest pace in 22 years in March as the massive earthquake and tsunami hampered trade and dampened consumer sentiment, official data showed Wednesday.

A woman and child are seen in a supermarket.

The tertiary index, which measures spending in the telecommunications, entertainment and other service sectors, dropped by 6.0 percent in March from the previous month, the trade and industry ministry said.

The fall is the steepest since a drop of 6.2 percent registered in April 1989 when the nation introduced a consumption tax, according to the ministry.

Hundreds of thousands have been made homeless by the 9.0-magnitude quake and the devastating tsunami it unleashed, which erased whole towns.

The March 11 disaster also had "a very big impact on various business fields", an official at the ministry said.

"It disrupted trade with foreign countries... while consumers put self-restraint" on spending, she said.