Japan logged a record ¥1.48 trillion trade deficit in January as an overseas slump, appreciating yen and a growing reliance on foreign energy slashed exporters' profits and boosted imports, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The deficit ballooned 207.7 percent from January 2011 — the most in a single month since record-keeping began in 1979.

It is also the first time the deficit has broken ¥1 trillion in a single month. The previous single-month record was ¥967.9 billion set in January 2009 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a global financial crisis.