Japan books 621.8 bln yen trade deficit in July

TOKYO, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Japan recorded a trade deficit of 621.8 billion yen (about 4.3 billion U.S. dollars) in July, as a weak yen boosted the value of imports to offset solid export gains, government data showed Wednesday.

The country's total exports grew 10.3 percent from a year earlier to 9.62 trillion yen, a record for July, while imports rose 16.6 percent to 10.24 trillion yen, also the largest ever for