Japanese customers see trade with China surpass that with USA

“ Japan's exports to China have topped those to the United States for the first time since World War II, while Japan saw its largest year-on-year drop in both exports and imports, statistics released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry showed...Japan's trade surplus rose 36.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.81 trillion yen--the first increase in two years....Total exports in 2009 on a customs-cleared basis stood at 54.18 trillion yen, posting a 33.1 percent drop from a year earlier, while imports fell by 34.9 percent to 51.37 trillion yen.”

Source: China now Japan's top trade partner
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Jan. 28, 2010
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T100127006823.htm