Japanese firms in China may seek claims at civil courts for damages caused by anti-Japan protests over Japan's "nationalization" of China's Diaoyu Islands, but Japan is not eligible to demand compensation from the Chinese government, experts said Wednesday.

"Japanese firms could file civil lawsuits against individuals who caused damages to their operations in China during the anti-Japan protests in September if they have sufficient evidence," said Jin Baisong, deputy director of the department of Chinese Trade and Studies at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. "The Chinese government never encouraged the irrational acts of some individual Chinese protesters, so Japanese firms are not eligible to apply for State compensation from the Chinese government."

"It would be impossible (for Japanese firms) to claim State compensation according to Chinese State compensation laws because Chinese authorities acted properly to prevent any violent protests," Chen Tao, a lawyer with the Criminal Law Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, told the Global Times Wednesday.

The Japanese government said in a statement Tuesday that anti-Japan protests across China in September caused damages to Japanese companies in China of up to 10 billion yen ($126 million), Kyodo News reported.

The Japanese government asked affected companies to seek relief through domestic laws and said Japan has asked China to take appropriate, fair and prompt compensation measures under Chinese law, the report said.

AFP said the damage estimate was still rough, and includes physical damage such as vandalism as well as indirect effects such as reduced sales, but not the effects of Chinese consumer boycotts of Japanese products.

Protests against Japan's "purchase" of China's Diaoyu Islands erupted in mid-September and some Japanese enterprises in China were forced to temporarily suspended production as some protests turned violent.

A staff member of Heiwado Co, a Japanese department store in Zhuzhou, Central China's Hunan Province, said the store has been closed since September 15 and will not resume business until November 21. Heiwado has said its operations in China suffered 1.8 billion yen ($22.61 million) in losses from the protests. 

In a statement sent to the Global Times Wednesday, Panasonic Corporation of China said the company has no specific figure on the damages and has no plan to seek claims.

Zhu Linjie, a spokesman at Honda China, said anti-Japan protests forced the company to adjust its production, but did not know whether Honda would seek compensation. Last month, Honda slashed its 2012 sales forecast in China to 620,000 vehicles from 750,000.

The Ministry of Commerce did not return a request for comment Wednesday. On Saturday, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on the sidelines of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that the Japanese government should take full responsibility for damages to trade ties resulting from Japan's illegal nationalization of China's Diaoyu Islands.

Chen urged Japan to correct its action to put the economic and trade ties between the two nations back on track, but said China will protect all businesses registered in China, including Japan-funded companies, and properly deal with any damages they suffer in China according to law.