A mid-April survey showed that 64.6 percent of 130 Japanese corporate presidents or chairmen agreed that the Japanese economy was "moving toward a recovery, albeit gradually," the leading business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

In January, the figure was 13.1 percentage points lower in a similar poll.

But asked about their own companies' business outlook in the April-June period, only 17.7 percent of the executives gave positive assessments, the daily said.

The executives were largely unconcerned about the major anti-Japanese protests this month in leading trading partner China.

The survey said 80.8 percent felt no immediate impact of rising anti-Japanese sentiment on their business. Only 3.1 percent of them forecast repercussions on marketing activities.