The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average fell 126.87 points, or 1.3 percent, to 9,717.44 in thin trading. The broader Topix index closed down 0.7 percent at 874.96.

With the U.S. government's employment report due out Friday, investors in Japan held to the sidelines or sold individual issues to lock in profits.

Japanese companies are in the midst of releasing first-half earnings, which have generally met expectations. The results, however, have not been good enough to lift stock prices, said Naoki Kamiyama, chief strategist at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo.

"We are concerned about the sustainability of the earnings recovery as long as it relies on inventory and cost cutbacks," Kamiyama said in a note to clients. "We need to see a stronger U.S. jobs recovery in order to have confidence in sales growth potential."

Exporters like Sony Corp., whose fortunes depend on the health of the U.S. economy, lost ground. The issue fell 2.1 percent to 2,550 yen.

Sanyo Electric Co. plunged more than 20 percent to 172 yen as Panasonic Corp. launched a tender offer for the smaller company. Panasonic is expected to buy more than 50 percent of Sanyo shares, hoping to take advantage of the smaller rival's green businesses in solar panels and rechargeable batteries.

The tender offer is planned for Nov. 5 through Dec. 7 at a price of 131 yen ($1.40) per share.

Beating the downtrend was Nissan Motor Co., which edged up 0.3 percent to 663 yen after swinging back to profit in the July-September quarter and narrowing its annual net loss forecast.

Rival Toyota Motor Corp. lost 0.8 percent to 3,580 yen. The world's biggest automaker released first-half earnings after the market closed, beating expectations by also returning to profit in the latest quarter and trimming its projected red ink for the year.

In currencies, the dollar was trading at 90.36 yen from $90.77 yen late Wednesday. The euro stood at $1.4816 from $1.4872.