1.   Lower costs meant that Japanese exports remained competitively priced.

2.   Almost two-thirds of Japanese exports to the United States are automobiles and auto-related products, according to some estimates.

3.   An over-valued currency is damaging Japanese exports.

4.   Asian slowdown is seen cutting demand for Japanese exports and making it harder for the region to pay back hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to Japan.

5.   As the yen strengthens, it makes Japanese exports more expensive abroad.

6.   As the dollar strengthens, Japanese exports increase, prices of imports rise and more capital shifts overseas in search of higher returns.

7.   As the U.S. and several European economies slow, demand for Japanese exports is dropping.

8.   At its highest level against the dollar in nearly four years, the yen threatens to make Japanese exports unaffordable.

9.   At the same time, Thailand, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries devalued their currencies this summer, making Japanese exports there more expensive.

10.   At the same time, those countries make up a significant part of the market for Japanese exports.