Quote from hedgeyourbets:
Here is the reason as to why Japan is down today again
(Livedoor fraud rumors).
Not much to do with the US market:
Tokyo's stock exchange closed early for the first time ever on Wednesday, as market bosses moved to prevent a feared shutdown of the trading system. The decision was sparked by heavy selling in shares following allegations of fraud at internet firm Livedoor.
The exchange suspended trading in all shares at 1420 local time (0520 GMT), 20 minutes ahead of the usual close.
Toyko's Nikkei 225 index closed down 464.77 points, or 2.94%, at 15,341.18 after a frantic day of trading.
"The recent spike in orders is extraordinary," said Taizo Nishimuro, the head of the stock exchange.
The number of transactions had threatened to exceed the exchange's computer system's capacity of 4.5 million trades per day.
Livedoor managers have denied the company broke market rules by giving misleading information to shareholders.