Photo/Illutration Toyota Motor Corp. exports vehicles from this base at Nagoya Port. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Japan posted a record annual trade deficit of 21.728 trillion yen ($162 billion) for the past fiscal year, according to the latest statistics released on April 21 by the Finance Ministry.

At the same time the nation recorded its 20th consecutive month of running a trade deficit and is showing no indication the trend might reverse anytime soon.

Chisato Oshiba, an economist with the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, said Japan will likely continue to record large trade deficits into the near future since exports will not likely increase as the global economy slows, and as Western economies tighten their monetary policies.

Things were not always so dismal.

Starting in the early 1980s, the economy was on a tear and routinely landed trade surpluses. But things changed with the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

With nuclear power plants shut down in the wake of the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, thermal power plants became increasingly important for providing energy.

The large increase in imports of oil and liquefied natural gas led to a trade deficit that lasted until about fiscal 2013.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine pushed up fuel prices around the world, exacerbating Japan’s trade imbalance.

Industry has also changed greatly, affecting exports of manufactured products.

In the 1980s, Japan was criticized by the United States for the huge gains it made through its exports, forcing Japanese automakers to set up production facilities abroad.

The strengthening of the yen against foreign currencies from the 1990s after the collapse of the asset-inflated economy led other companies to also set up production facilities overseas.

A comparison of export items between fiscal 2022 and fiscal 1991, years when currency levels were similar, shows how the country’s industrial structure changed.

While auto exports increased from 7.502 trillion yen to 13.735 trillion yen, the number of vehicles exported declined from 6.11 million to 5.16 million.

The decrease in exports of audio-visual equipment was particularly steep, dropping from 2.835 trillion yen to 779.5 billion yen--a quarter of what it was in fiscal 1991.

If the product unit index is set at 100 for fiscal 2015, the figure was 97.7 in fiscal 2022. In that year, there was a 3.9 percent year-on-year decline in product exports.

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