In year 2011 Japan's trade balance was in the red, for the first time in 31 years. Any thoughts?

1. Automobile production dropped, because their parts factories in the Tohoku region were destroyed. But now they are back on their feet. So, this was just temporary.

2. Sudden increase of NLG import due to the rapid shift from nuclear to thermal power. I hope more NLG will be available from Malaysia and Indonesia this year.

Trade balance for FY2012 will be back to normal, hopefully.

I think it was explained that it was because the tsunami hit northern coast (their main manufacturing hub) and it took out most of the factories for their biggest companies. No factories means no production, and no exports.

Here's hoping they get those back up & running soon. They really deserve a break.

It might have something to do with the earthquake and tsunami which devastated their electrical grid and thus their manufacturing capability.

Toyota's fuss and those natural disasters..., which were unpredictable.

Hm. No, not really. Thanks for asking, though.