Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday amid investor caution ahead of an unprecedented 10 days of holidays beginning this weekend, with a stronger yen against the dollar also weighing on the market. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.22 percent, or 48.85 points, to end at 22,258.73, while the broader Topix index was off 0.15 percent, or 2.35 points, at 1,617.93.
"A strong yen depressed market sentiment while investors were adjusting their positions ahead of the long holidays," said Daiwa Securities chief technical analyst Eiji Kinouchi.
Japanese investors were mindful of fears of a repeat of the flash crash seen during Tokyo's New Year holidays, which temporarily boosted the yen against the dollar.
"We think the length of this holiday is an actual risk," Kinouchi told AFP.
The dollar traded at 111.67 yen in Asian afternoon trade, slightly up from 111.61 yen in New York but still down from 112 yen levels seen earlier this week.
Investors were also closely watching corporate earnings reports, analysts said.
In Tokyo, Nintendo was down 1.32 percent to 38,000 yen following two pieces of major news about the company.
Late Thursday, it unveiled its latest earnings results, showing its full-year profit jumping nearly 40 percent year-on-year to 194 billion yen ($1.7 billion).
And on Friday, it said was working with Chinese internet giant Tencent to roll out its popular Switch console in China.
Elsewhere, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest dived 8.85 percent to 3,140 yen after it said its full-year operating profit for the year to March 2020 will drop 53.6 percent to 30 billion yen.
Sony was down 0.85 percent at 5,212 yen. Following the closing bell, Sony said its net profit rose to record highs for the second consecutive year.
Investors mainly shrugged off a series of official data released before the opening bell.
Japan's industrial output in March fell 0.9 percent month-on-month after a 0.7-percent rise the previous month, the industry ministry said.
Other data confirmed Japan's labour market remains tight, with the unemployment rate edging up by 0.2 percentage points to 2.5 percent but the job offers-to-applicants ratio unchanged at 1.63 - meaning 163 jobs are available for every 100 job seekers.