The Bank of Japan on Monday downgraded its assessments of seven of the nation's nine regional economies, mainly citing weak exports and industrial output.
"Many regions in Japan judged that there were signs of a moderate recovery on the whole, but seven regions . . . reported that the recovery seemed to be pausing or had paused recently," the BOJ said in its quarterly report, released after a meeting of the central bank's branch managers.
The previous survey, conducted in October, downgraded only three of nine regional evaluations.