TOKYO, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Japan registered a 558.6 billion yen (about 7 billion U.S. dollars) trade deficit for September, Japan' s Ministry of Finance said on Monday.

Exports went down 10.3 percent from a year earlier to 5,359.8 billion yen while imports rose 4.1 percent to 5,918.3 billion yen, according to a preliminary report released by the finance ministry.

The figures were measured on a customs-cleared basis.