Japan Inc depending more on Asia – report

TOKYO – Japan’s major companies enjoyed record profits in Asia in the past fiscal year, surpassing their domestic figures, according to a survey released on Sunday.

The Nikkei business daily carried out the poll covering 130 listed firms that published region-by-region profit data.

The firms’ operating profit generated in Asia and Oceania excluding Japan rose 30 percent to a highest-ever 1.246 trillion yen ($16 billion) in the fiscal year to March 2011, the survey showed.

The figure exceeded those for Europe and the United States as well as the 740 billion yen profit generated in Japan, reflecting the fact that these developed economies are still in recovery mode, the newspaper said.

Their domestic profit may be squeezed further as Japanese companies are reviewing their domestic supply chain paralyzed by the March 11 earthquake-tsunami disaster, the newspaper added.