Japan's imports from China have risen strongly, and Chinese and Japanese exports do not really compete.
Japan's imports of gas and coal jumped last year and look set to grow further, creating fresh challenges for a new government trying to bolster the economy.
But it has also inflated the value of resource-scarce Japan's imports of crude oil and other commodities, which offset a recovery in demand for Japanese-made vehicles and machinery.
The shut down has resulted in higher energy costs and a rise in Japan's imports of energy sources such as oil and natural gas, widening its trade deficit.
BBC: Japan PM Abe praises Fukushima nuclear work during visit
If these economies can pull through, and if Japan's imports pick up, the resulting boost in regional demand will make it easier for the others to weather a global downturn.
Data out last month showed that Japan's LNG imports rose 18% in the year ending 31 March, from a year ago levels.
Such an outcome would give China far greater power projection in the East and South China Seas -- through which flow much of East Asia's trade, including the bulk of Japan and South Korea's oil imports.
The yen may weaken of its own accord, given Japan's increased need for imports and diminished ability to export.
The prices of Japan's exports relative to imports have deteriorated for at least four years, but until recently growth in companies' sales volumes had more than made up for that.
ECONOMIST: Japan has long hoped for a bit of inflation��but not this sort
The world's third-largest economy has seen a rise in fuel imports, as most of Japan's nuclear reactors continue to remain closed.
The blockade certainly had an effect as testified by Japan's loss of shipping and its dwindling imports of raw materials.
China is now India's largest source of imports, recently overtaking the U.S., Germany and Japan, according to Indian government data.
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For decades Japan was notorious for barring imports of U.S. beef, ostensibly on the grounds of safety, but everyone knew it was for political purposes.
Since 2005 China has overtaken the US to become Taiwan's second-largest source of imports after Japan.
Indeed, almost 40% of all Japan's manufactured exports and about 70% of its imports are invoiced in dollars, not yen.
During the first Gulf war, Japan's only contribution was money, even though it imports 90% of its oil from the Middle East.
Japan's deficit has also been impacted by an increase in fuel imports.
Calls for protectionism against imports from China are on the rise, despite Japan's huge overall trade surplus, as are pressures for a more hawkish approach to that traditional regional rival (see article).
Waiving restraints on Tohoku's imports and exports would, more than anything else, spur corporate Japan to invest richly in the region.
The second is that consumers have played a bigger role in Japan's recovery than official figures let on, with strong demand at home sucking in imports.
Japan's continuing malaise, the United States' recession and the impact of American duties against softwood imports have all hammered British Columbia.
John Richards, of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Tokyo, points out that since inflation is almost entirely due to dearer food and energy, both of which Japan imports, rather than because of rising domestic demand, it reflects an unwelcome worsening of the country's terms of trade.
ECONOMIST: Japan has long hoped for a bit of inflation��but not this sort
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