Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Q: The devastating March tsunami and shift of manufacturing overseas plunged Japan's trade account into the red for the first time since 1980. Experts said the years of Japan running massive trade surpluses are likely over. 
  
 A driver closes a back door of a container at a container terminal in Tokyo Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan marked its first trade deficit since 1980, a 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) shortfall for 2011... (Associated Press) 
  
 A man strolls outside a container terminal in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan marked its first trade deficit since 1980, a 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) shortfall for 2011 caused in part by last... (Associated Press) 
  
 A container ship leaves a container terminal in Tokyo Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan marked its first trade deficit since 1980, a 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) shortfall for 2011 caused in part by... (Associated Press) 
  
 A man runs outside a container terminal in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls caused by the... (Associated Press) 
  
 A worker pedals a bicycle at a container terminal in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls caused... (Associated Press) 
  
 A security person pedals a bicycle at a container terminal in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan reported its first annual trade deficit since 1980 as it imported expensive energy to offset shortfalls... (Associated Press) 
  
 A worker rides a motorbike at a container terminal in Tokyo Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Japan marked its first trade deficit since 1980, a 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) shortfall for 2011 caused in part... (Associated Press) 
  
 The 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) deficit for 2011 reflected a surge in energy imports to cover shortfalls caused by the disaster and a 2.7 percent decline in the value of Japan's exports to 65.55 trillion yen ($843 billion), according to the Ministry of Finance figures released Wednesday. 
  
 Manufacturers have moved some production overseas to avoid the damage inflicted by the strong yen, a trend that has accelerated in recent years. Some economists say the trade balance will be in the black again within two years, but the era of very large surpluses that allowed Japan to build a huge pile of foreign reserves has ended. 
  
 "It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy, particularly among manufacturers," said Hideki Matsumura, senior economist at Japan Research Institute. "Japan is losing its competitiveness to produce domestically." 
  
 "It's gotten difficult for manufacturers to export, so they're they've moved production abroad so that products sold outside the country are made outside the country," he said. 
  
 The yen's surge to record levels against the dollar and euro has made Japanese exports more expensive and also erodes the value of foreign earned income when brought home. Recently, manufacturers such as Nissan Motor Co. and Panasonic Corp. have shifted some of their output to factories abroad. At the same time, Japan is facing intense competition from South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, where labor and production costs are cheaper. 
  
 Japanese manufacturers have been battered by a host of negatives in the past year. The tsunami temporarily disrupted the production of automobile makers and other manufacturers. Weakness in the U.S. economy and Europe's debt problems and recent flooding in Thailand, where many Japanese automakers have assembly lines, also contributed to export declines. 
  
 "The impact of the supply chain problem and the temporary effect of the earthquake will fade. We may see Japan's trade balance recover to a small trade surplus, but it won't return to the pre-crisis level," said Masayuki Kichikawa, chief Japan economist at B of A Merrill Lynch in Tokyo. 
  
 "The big surpluses are gone. Japan's trade balance should be almost balanced or at best a small surplus." 
  
 Another major factor behind the deficit was the impact of the expensive energy imports Japan turned to after the March disaster touched off a nuclear crisis and led the country to shut down, or not restart, a large portion of its reactors, said Martin Schulz, senior economist with the Fujitsu Research Institute. 
  
 He said pressure to import energy will continue to weigh heavily on Japan for the next year, but will subside as the country pursues greater efficiency measures. 
  
 Much of Japan's oil and natural gas is imported from the Middle East, with which Japan had a 10.88 trillion yen trade deficit last year, up 33 percent, figures showed. 
  
 Japan still has a trade surplus with the U.S., although that is shrinking. For 2011, exports exceeded imports by 4.10 trillion yen ($52.6 billion), down 8.2 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the U.S. declined 2.8 percent to 10.02 trillion yen during the year, while imports inched up 0.2 percent to 5.9 trillion. 
  
 Japan had a 1.57 trillion yen trade surplus with China for the year. A breakdown of figures showed a trade deficit with mainland China, but a big surplus with Hong Kong. 
  
 Trade with Germany was fairly balanced last year as imports grew nearly 10 percent to 1.86 trillion yen. Exports came to 1.87 trillion yen, giving Japan a relatively small trade surplus of 16 billion yen. 
  
 The turmoil in Europe and the U.S. has driven up the yen as global investors flock to the currency as a relative safe haven. The yen hit multiple historic highs against the dollar, and touched a record against the euro earlier this month as well. 
  
 The yen is trading at around 78 to the dollar recently, a level that is extremely painful for exporters. Five years ago, the dollar was trading above 120 yen. 
  
 Matsumura believes that Japan will likely log another trade deficit this year amid prospects for high energy prices and a persistently strong yen, but that renewed strength in the global and Asian regional economies could put Japan back into the black in 2013. ||||| TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's first annual trade deficit in more than 30 years calls into question how much longer the country can rely on exports to help finance a huge public debt without having to turn to fickle foreign investors. 
  
 The aftermath of the March earthquake raised fuel import costs while slowing global growth and the yen's strength hit exports, data released on Wednesday showed, swinging the 2011 trade balance into deficit. 
  
 Few analysts expect Japan to immediately run a deficit in the current account, which includes trade and returns on the country's huge portfolio of investments abroad. A steady inflow of profits and capital gains from overseas still outweighs the trade deficit. 
  
 But the trade figures underscore a broader trend of Japan's declining global competitive edge and a rapidly ageing population, compounding the immediate problem of increased reliance on fuel imports due to the loss of nuclear power. 
  
 Only four of the country's 54 nuclear power reactors are running due to public safety fears following the March disaster. 
  
 "What it means is that the time when Japan runs out of savings -- 'Sayonara net creditor country' -- that point is coming closer," said Jesper Koll, head of equities research at JPMorgan in Japan. 
  
 "It means Japan becomes dependent on global savings to fund its deficit and either the currency weakens or interest rates rise." 
  
 That prospect could give added impetus to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's push to double Japan's 5 percent sales tax in two stages by October 2015 to fund the bulging social security costs of a fast-ageing society. 
  
 The biggest opposition party, although agreeing with the need for a higher levy, is threatening to block legislation in parliament's upper house in hopes of forcing a general election. 
  
 Japan logged a trade deficit of 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion) for 2011, Ministry of Finance data showed, the first annual deficit since 1980, after the economy was hit by the shock of rising oil prices. 
  
 Were Japan to run a current account deficit, it would spell trouble because it would mean the country cannot finance its huge public debt -- already twice the size of its $5 trillion economy -- without overseas funds. 
  
 Japanese investors currently hold about 95 percent of Japan's government bonds, which lends some stability to an otherwise unsustainable debt burden. 
  
 Domestic buyers are less likely to dump debt at the first whiff of economic trouble, unlike foreign investors, as Europe's debt crisis has shown. 
  
 The trade data helped send the yen to a one-month low against the dollar and the euro on Wednesday. 
  
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 Graphic on 2011 trade data link.reuters.com/mev26s 
  
 Dec trade balance link.reuters.com/vyq65s 
  
 Exports by destination link.reuters.com/far65s 
  
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 "HOLLOWING OUT," AGEING POPULATION 
  
 Total exports shrank 2.7 percent last year while imports surged 12.0 percent, reflecting reduced earnings from goods and services and higher spending on crude and fuel oil. Annual imports of liquefied natural gas hit a record high. 
  
 In a sign of the continuing pain from slowing global growth, exports fell 8.0 percent in December from a year earlier, roughly matching a median market forecast for a 7.9 percent drop, due partly to weak shipments of electronics parts. 
  
 Imports rose 8.1 percent in December from a year earlier, in line with a 8.0 percent annual gain expected, bringing the trade balance to a deficit of 205.1 billion yen, against 139.7 billion yen expected. It marked the third straight month of deficits. 
  
 Japan managed to sustain annual trade surpluses through the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and the post-Lehman Brothers global recession that started in late 2008, which makes the 2011 dip into deficit all the more dramatic. 
  
 A generation ago, Japan was the world's export juggernaut, churning out a stream of innovative products from the likes of Sony and Toyota. 
  
 Much like China today, Japan's bulging trade surplus became a source of friction with the United States and other advanced economies, who pressed Tokyo to allow the yen to rise more rapidly in order to reduce the imbalance. 
  
 A 1985 agreement between Japan, the United States and Europe's big economies -- known as the Plaza Accord after the New York hotel where it was signed -- pushed the yen higher against the U.S. dollar. 
  
 Many economists argue that sowed the seeds of Japan's current debt woes. After the Plaza Accord, Japan's economy weakened and its central bank slashed interest rates, which contributed to a credit boom that eventually spawned a financial crisis and led to two decades of economic stagnation. 
  
 Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said on Tuesday he did not expect trade deficits to become a pattern, and did not foresee the country's current account balance tipping into the red in the near future. 
  
 But Japan's days of logging huge trade surpluses may be over as it relies more on fuel imports and manufacturers move production offshore to cope with rising costs and a strong yen, a trend that may weaken the Japanese currency longer term. 
  
 A fast-ageing population also means a growing number of elderly Japanese will be running down their savings. 
  
 Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the government wants to closely watch the trend of exports and imports. 
  
 "There are worries that the yen's strength is driving Japanese industry to go abroad," said Fujimura. "We have to create new industries ... implement comprehensive steps to boost growth. It is important to secure employment within the nation." 
  
 ($1=77.71 yen) 
  
 (Additional writing by Leika Kihara; Editing by Linda Sieg and Emily Kaiser) |||||
A:
Japan reported its first trade deficit since 1980 today, a $32 billion shortfall caused in part by the tsunami that struck the country, and in part by the strengthening yen. And while the tsunami may have been a freak occurrence, experts tell the AP that the deficit isn't. "It reflects fundamental changes in Japan's economy," one economist at Japan Research Institute says. "Japan is losing its competitiveness," with its manufacturing giants largely moving production abroad. "We may see Japan's trade balance recover to a small trade surplus," another economist says, "but it won't return to pre-crisis levels." That's a big problem, Reuters observes, because the country relies on its once-massive trade surplus to finance its still-massive public debt. "What it means is that the time when Japan runs out of savings—'Sayonara net creditor country'—is coming closer," one equities researcher says.