Japan business sentiment improves for 1st time since 2017: Tankan

Confidence levels remain depressed amid coronavirus uncertainty

Cars lined up at a port in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Japanese automakers' sales elsewhere in Asia are recovering. (Photo by Wataru Ito)

MITSURU OBE, Nikkei staff writer

October 1, 2020 08:52 JST

Updated on October 1, 2020 10:16 JST

TOKYO -- Business sentiment among Japan's large manufacturers has recorded its first improvement since 2017, the Bank of Japan's latest Tankan quarterly survey showed on Thursday, helped by government and central bank efforts to resuscitate the nation's pandemic-hit economy.