TOKYO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Department store sales in Japan in 2018 decreased 0.8 percent compared to the previous year due to influences of natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes, a Japanese industry organization said Wednesday.

The Japan Department Stores Association said sales by all department stores in 2018 amounted to 5.89 trillion yen (53.68 billion U.S. dollars).

The number of foreign customers hit a record high of 5.24 million last year, up 28.6 percent, while duty-free sales also reached an all-time high of 339.6 billion yen (3.09 billion dollars), up 25.8 percent.

However, the surges did not offset the sales slump because of the disasters including torrential rains, typhoons and quakes.

According to the association, sales in 10 major Japanese cities including Tokyo and Osaka on a same-store basis rose 0.3 percent, while there was a 3.4-percent decrease in the rest of Japan. Enditem

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