01Key Takeaways
- Japan imported $751.75 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 16.34% from $898.60 billion in 2022.
- Mineral fuels led every import category at 25.90% ($194.67 billion), Japan's largest and most volatile import line.
- China supplied 22.36% of Japan's imports, worth $168.06 billion, more than double the USA's 10.12% share.
- The 2023 pullback follows a 2022 spike driven by soaring global crude oil and LNG prices, not a drop in the volume of energy Japan actually uses.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $721.1B | $635.4B | $772.3B | $898.6B | $751.8B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $168.1B | 22.4% |
| 2 | United States | $76.0B | 10.1% |
| 3 | Australia | $64.5B | 8.6% |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | $37.0B | 4.9% |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia | $34.7B | 4.6% |
| 6 | Other Asia, nes | $34.7B | 4.6% |
| 7 | South Korea | $30.2B | 4.0% |
| 8 | Vietnam | $25.4B | 3.4% |
| 9 | Thailand | $24.3B | 3.2% |
| 10 | Indonesia | $24.1B | 3.2% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $194.7B | 25.9% |
| 2 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $115.1B | 15.3% |
| 3 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $69.3B | 9.2% |
| 4 | Pharmaceutical Products | $30.8B | 4.1% |
| 5 | Ores, Slag and Ash | $26.4B | 3.5% |
| 6 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $24.9B | 3.3% |
| 7 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $16.1B | 2.1% |
| 8 | Organic Chemicals | $15.3B | 2.0% |
| 9 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $14.9B | 2.0% |
| 10 | Commodities not specified according to kind | $13.1B | 1.7% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
A 2022 Energy Price Spike Inflated Japan's Import Bill, Then Eased
Japan imported $751.75 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 16.34% from $898.60 billion in 2022. Mineral fuels topped every import category at 25.90% of the total, worth $194.67 billion, by far the largest and most volatile line on Japan's import bill. Japan has almost no domestic oil, gas or coal production, so it buys nearly all its energy from abroad. Crude oil imports jumped 91.5% in yen terms in 2022, and LNG imports jumped 97.5%, as crude oil prices rose 76.5% year on year in yen terms. That spike, not a change in how much energy Japan actually burned, is what pushed the 2022 total so high. Japan paid about $44.2 billion for LNG imports in 2023, a decrease of 22.6% compared to 2022, even though the volume of gas it bought fell only 8.1%. Prices did most of the work, in both directions.
Electrical machinery ranked second among import categories at 15.31% ($115.09 billion), and machinery and mechanical appliances added 9.22% ($69.31 billion). Japan manufactures plenty of finished electronics and machinery itself. It still imports large volumes of components and consumer devices that feed those same industries, everything from semiconductors to smartphones assembled elsewhere. Pharmaceutical products contributed 4.10% ($30.83 billion), and ores, slag and ash added 3.51% ($26.36 billion), raw material inputs for a country with almost no mining sector of its own. Vehicles added 3.31% ($24.90 billion), a modest number next to Japan's own vehicle export industry. Plastics and organic chemicals contributed 2.14% ($16.08 billion) and 2.04% ($15.35 billion), rounding out the categories that carry real weight in the total. None of these come close to touching the size of the energy bill sitting at the top of the list.
China Supplies More Than Double What the USA Sends
China supplied 22.36% of Japan's imports in 2023, worth $168.06 billion, more than double the next largest source. United States ranked second at 10.12% ($76.04 billion), and Australia followed at 8.58% ($64.54 billion). Together, these top three sources made up 41.06% of total import value. Australia's spot on that list ties directly back to the energy and raw materials story, since Australia ships large volumes of coal, LNG and iron ore to Japan every year.
United Arab Emirates supplied 4.92% ($36.97 billion), and Saudi Arabia added 4.61% ($34.68 billion). Both are major crude oil exporters, and their presence near the top of this list lines up neatly with mineral fuels sitting atop Japan's import categories. A grouping labeled other Asia, a catch-all for smaller Asian sources that trade data does not break out individually, contributed a nearly identical 4.61% ($34.65 billion). South Korea added 4.02% ($30.24 billion), and Vietnam contributed 3.37% ($25.35 billion), both suppliers of the electronics components and consumer goods that fill out Japan's import list below the energy categories. Thailand supplied 3.24% ($24.32 billion), and Indonesia closed out the top ten at 3.21% ($24.10 billion). That full list, taken together, is weighted toward Middle Eastern energy exporters at the top and Asian manufacturing hubs filling out the rest.
Imports Spiked in 2022, Then Fell Back Toward the Longer-Term Trend
Japan's import total climbed for two straight years before the 2022 spike, then fell back hard in 2023. It stood at $721.08 billion in 2019, then fell to $635.40 billion in 2020 as global trade slowed during the pandemic. It recovered to $772.28 billion in 2021. Then it jumped sharply to $898.60 billion in 2022, the high point of this five-year stretch by a wide margin. The 2023 figure of $751.75 billion, down 16.34% year over year, lands much closer to where the 2021 total already stood. In effect, one unusually expensive year sits between two calmer ones.
That shape, a sharp one-year spike rather than a steady climb, is the signature of a price shock rather than a genuine shift in how much Japan buys from the rest of the world. Energy prices drove most of that swing. A weak yen added extra pressure on the dollar totals throughout the period, on top of what the energy market alone was already doing. Japan's exports followed a different path over these same years, peaking in 2021 rather than 2022. Comparing the two sides of Japan's trade side by side shows how differently energy costs and currency moves can hit an import bill versus an export ledger, even within the same economy over the same five years.