Nikkei closes down; Japan Airlines flat; Toyota, Panasonic down

Meanwhile, emerging markets in China and India remain the favoured choice as the picture is much 'clearer' on macroeconomics:

"To be honest, it's much easier to go for Asian stocks such as China and India, the macro picture is much easier to read, but you have a lot of corporate governance problems you don't have here." said Pascal Masse, head of investment at Aberdeen Investment Management in Tokyo.