Japan needs to pursue reform policies more vigorously - Takenaka

State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy said Japan has to pursue its reforms more vigorously after the recent sharp fall in US stocks, which helped to push up the value of the yen against the dollar.

"We forecast that we could not totally rely only on the American economy," on which to base Japan's recovery, Heizo Takenaka said on a talk show on the TV Asahi network.

"As such, it is very important to attach concrete policies to our second-stage basic policy for reforms."

Japan's three months to March GDP grew 1.4% from the previous quarter, with roughly half of that due to external demand focusing on the US, and half due to domestic demand, Takenaka said.

While emphasizing the basic strength of the US recovery has not changed, Takenaka stressed it is crucial that Japan rely on reforms to boost its growth.

"When I said (in May) that the Japanese economy had hit bottom, I said there were a number of risk factors and one of them was the American economy," he said.

"The expectations of the American economy are too high. From a Japanese perspective, the result is the appreciation of the yen.

"We are seeing the existence of those risks clearly now," he said.