In Tokyo on Wednesday the Nikkei 225 was 1.1 percent lower to 18,015.58, while the Topix index also dropped 1.1 percent, to 1,758.65.
The declines came from both domestically-focused and export-focused sectors.
On the domestic side, the retail sector was down 1.9 percent as a whole, with several retailers doing even worse than that.
Aeon (TYO: 8267) dropped 2.1 percent to ¥2,055, while department store chain Isetan (TYO: 8238; SGX: I15) fell 2.2 percent to ¥1,922.
The worst performer on the Nikkei was Fast Retailing (TYO: 9983), which was down 4.4 percent to ¥7,280.
In the utilities sector, Tokyo Electric Power (TYO: 9501) was 4 percent lower to ¥3,600 on reports that a survey of earthquake damage in its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant had found 50 separate problems.
After US semiconductors manufacturer Intel (NAS: INTC; SEHK: 4335) reported margins at the low end of predictions in the second quarter, chipmaker Tokyo Electron (TYO: 8035) dropped 1 percent to ¥8,930.
The electronics sector was mixed on broker recommendations.
While Nikon (TYO: 7731) added 0.5 percent to ¥3,730 on a Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) upgrade from “overweight” to “equal-weight”, Pioneer was 3.3 percent lower to ¥1,645 after Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS; SWX: CSGN) cut its rating from “neutral” to “underperform”.