Like their American counterparts, Japanese automakers are feeling the effects of falling sales and tight credit, a situation that has caused Nissan, Honda, and Mazda to follow Toyota's lead in asking the Japanese government for emergency loans.

Japan has freed funds from its foreign reserve to reinforce the overseas operations of the country's largest companies, a segment, which includes carmakers. A spokeswoman for Nissan, Paulin Kee, said, "Whatever's available out there from the government, we definitely want to try to access it."

Toyota has already asked for $2.02 billion to help its lending arm in America, Toyota Motor Credit Corp. Although none of the other major Japanese firms have formally applied, Nissan, Honda, and Mazda have all confirmed their intent to do so.

While the Japanese companies, with their relatively healthy financial pictures, are not in the same position as their faltering American competitors, they do have a more difficult time getting loans overseas in the world's tight credit market. Of the automakers, only Honda anticipates reporting a profit for the fiscal year ending on March 31.

The Finance Ministry of the Japanese government will draw $5 billion for its foreign currency stockpile of $1 trillion to insure credit continues to flow to its industries.