TOKYO, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 733 companies went bankrupt in October, rising for the second straight month, according to a survey by Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. released on Thursday.
According to the survey, the number of companies went bankrupt rose by 7.3 percent from a year earlier.
Regionally, the Kinki area in western Japan saw a total of 190 bankruptcies, up by 16.5 percent from a year earlier and rising for the fourth consecutive month.
The Chubu region in central Japan, the Chugoku and Shikoku areas in western Japan, and the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan also saw bankruptcy cases growing.
The Hokkaido prefecture, the Kanto region and the Tohoku region, meanwhile, saw the number of bankruptcies decreasing.
The service industry saw a total of 215 bankruptcy cases, the highest among different industries and up for the eighth straight month, while the construction industry saw the fastest growth in the number of bankruptcy cases, which was up by 29.8 percent from a year earlier.
According to the research company, despite the slow economic recovery, enterprises in Japan are still facing difficulties caused by factors such as labor shortage.
