Japan's central bank has confirmed that the world's second largest economy is recovering, thanks to robust exports.
In its November monthly report, the Bank of Japan said exports were increasing and capital investment was gradually picking up, although housing construction remained sluggish and consumption was weak.
The central bank said industrial production, which had been flat, had started to increase and the decline in household income was gradually coming to a halt.
The bank's latest statement appears slightly more bullish than its October report.
But it remains cautious about the outlook for Japan's more than four-year period of uninterrupted deflation, under which prices have been falling, discouraging consumers from rushing to purchase big-ticket items on the expectation they would get cheaper.
