For the 24 hours to 23:00 GMT, USD strengthened 0.31% against the JPY and closed at 81.92.
In Japan, yesterday, the coincident index declined to 103.5 in March from 106.8 in the previous month. Additionally, the leading economic index declined to 100.1 in March from 104 in February.
In the Asian session at 3:00GMT, the pair is trading lower from the New York close, by 0.16%, at 81.79.
The first short term resistance is at 82.16, followed by 82.53. The pair is expected to find support at 81.35 and the subsequent support level at 80.91.
Investors are eying Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting minutes along with other economic releases in Japan to be released later today.
The currency pair is showing convergence with its 20 Hr and 50 Hr moving averages.