Report by Japan

The Japanese economy, which had been in an expansionary phase since March 2009, was temporarily stagnated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011, mainly due to a sharp decline in production and private consumption. After that, the economy picked up as the supply chains of production activities were gradually re-established. In the first half of 2012, the Japanese economy was on the way to recovery at a moderate pace mainly driven by domestic demand including reconstruction demand, although it has sounded a weak tone recently due to the deceleration of the world economy. Regarding prices, the Japanese economy is in a mild deflationary phase, although the tempo of deflation has been slower.