Japan economy weak in July

Japan is struggling at best.  Bloomberg reports that:

Japan reported a wider-than-expected trade deficit in July as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and a slowdown in China dragged down exports and higher oil prices boosted imports. 

Japan's trade deficit was 517 billion yen; per Bloomberg data Japan's trade balance has been near zero or negative every month since October 2011.  In July exports fell 8.1 percent year on year while imports increased 2.1 percent.  The Ministry of Finance reported that shipments to the European Union fell 25 percent in July year on year;  and shipments to China fell 12 percent. The trade deficit was the biggest for any July in data since 1979.

Japan's goods exports to the EU have fallen sharply the last two months.

Dependence on energy imports and falling exports means that Japan will probably run trade deficits for at least another year.