Japan is highly dependent on clothing imports from Asian countries. According to statistics, more than 90% of Japan’s clothing imports come from Asian countries. Provisional statistics from the Ministry of Finance of Japan show that in the first half of the 2015/16 fiscal year (April-September 2015), Japan imported a total of 1.73 trillion yen (approximately US$14.3 billion) in clothing and apparel, an increase of 6.2% over the same period last year. Clothing imports from Asian countries accounted for 92.8%, about 1.6 trillion yen (about 13.3 billion U.S. dollars).
Data shows that among Asian countries, Japan imported 1.16 trillion yen (approximately 9.64 billion U.S. dollars) from Chinese clothing and apparel from April to September 2015, an increase of 1.1% over the same period in 2014. In addition, the United Kingdom and the United States also account for an important proportion of Japan’s clothing import market: from April to September 2015, Japan imported 89.65 billion yen of British clothing and apparel, an increase of 5.8% over the same period in 2014; and imported 97.12 billion yen of American clothing and apparel. The Japanese yen increased by 2.8% compared with the same period in 2014. More than 90% of Japan’s clothing imports come from Asian countries
