Is Japan Manufacture recovering well from earthquake?

Japanese machinery manufacturing confidence improved for a fifth straight month in September but the pace of recovery slowed to a crawl, a Reuters poll showed, underlining the view that the economy's rapid rebound from the March earthquake may have run its course.
The monthly poll, closely correlated with the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan corporate survey, also showed that non-manufacturers' sentiment gauge fell for the first time in three months, reflecting sluggish domestic demand.
The poll of 400 big firms, of which 257 responded, cast doubt on the prospects for further recovery in the world's No.3 economy which is emerging from a recession triggered by the March 11 disaster.
A stubbornly strong yen and faltering global growth threaten to derail the export-reliant economy's recovery, while weak domestic demand and a delay in reconstruction machinery spending further cloud the outlook.
The next BOJ survey due on Oct. 3 is expected to paint a similar picture -- moderate improvement in sentiment and doubts about the future -- keeping the central bank pressure to ease policy again to prop up the economy.
The index is seen improving further to plus 13 in December, though still below levels seen just before the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and deadly tsunami devastated the northeast coast and triggered a radiation crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
BOJ board member Ryuzo Miyao said the economy may get less support than expected from overseas due to Europe's debt crisis and U.S. slowdown, while S&P cut its economic outlook, blaming in part slow government response to the March disaster.
manufacturers expressed concern about weakening U.S. and European demand in addition to the yen's strength, which keeps trading near last month's all-time highs despite Tokyo's record 4.5 trillion yen-selling intervention on Aug. 4.