Japan's trade deficit narrows 2.4% in August

Weak yen, territory disputes, lack of natural resourses such as rare metal.

There must be more reasons, but here in Japan, trade fails, the country fails.

Japan has too little room to grow crops.

If exports of those technology are still good, maybe it's time to join TPP stuff. Need to subsidize the Jp farmers, though.

Imports were down 1.5% to 6.65 trillion yen as imports of crude oil and coal fell.

1.5% is a drop in the bucket and people should expect worse as winter comes.

largely due to shrinking energy bills

Why have the energy bills shrunk? And, whose energy bills have shrunk? Mine definitely hasn't!

I wonder what Japan's trade imbalance would have been back in 1988 if Japan had only 15% Nuclear energy at the time. Were Japan's positive trade numbers mainly due to lack of energy imports.

Japan has too little room to grow crops.

Not quite. The government reports that around 40% of Japan's arable land is not being utilized. There is a lot of room for crops. Just not enough people/no mechanized farming to farm the land.

I wonder what Japan's trade imbalance would have been back in 1988 if Japan had only 15% Nuclear energy at the time. Were Japan's positive trade numbers mainly due to lack of energy imports.

I'm sure it had something to do with it. Right now, LNG imports are tanking the overall balance of trade, and with the reactors online the balance would be in the positive.

Also, gas was cheaper in 1988, making things a bit more expensive now than they would have been before. Another reason the trade deficit exists is because we have seen many companies shut down manufacturing in Japan in the last two-three decades, and move them overseas.

In short, its not just increased LNG imports, but the complete shut-down of Japan's reactors is a significant reason why the the trade deficit exists.

Secure the safety of the reactors get them back online and watch the figures move positive.