Japan piano sales jump post-earthquake

Sales of pianos in Japan jumped 11 percent last year, the first rise in 17 years, as people replaced instruments damaged in the country's devastating earthquake, a trade body said on Monday.

Takahiro Ito of the Shizuoka Instrument Manufacturing Association told AFP more than 18,100 pianos had been sold in 2011, up from around 16,300 the year before.

"Last year, especially in the Tohoku region, pianos broke down after the quake and some customers wanted to buy new ones," he said.

Tohoku, in northeastern Japan, was badly hit by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami of March 11, with huge swathes of the coastline destroyed.