Five months after suffering a boycott of Japanese goods in China amid the Diaoyu Islands dispute, Nissan, Honda and Toyota increased sales year on year in China last month.

But it may still be too early to confirm whether the Japanese carmakers can achieve a full recovery this year because the increase in sales was skewed as sales were affected by the week-long Lunar New Year holiday in January last year when showrooms were closed.

Nissan, which has the biggest exposure to the Chinese market among all Japanese carmakers, yesterday reported its January sales in China jumped 22.2 percent to 115,700 units, a huge improvement from a 24 percent slump in December.

Honda, whose China sales shed 19.2 percent in December from a year earlier, posted a 22 percent surge after delivering 47,248 vehicles last month. Toyota's sales in China gained 23.5 percent in January after a 17 percent fall in December.