The yen eased on Thursday after disappointing Japanese data suggested the country needed more time to get its economic recovery back on track, though the currency soon recovered its losses on buying ahead of a market holiday. Japanese industrial output fell 0.3 percent in March from the month before, initially weakening the yen against the dollar and the euro. Traders said the yen selling following the data was inevitable, but said that demand for the currency would grow heading into the Golden Week holidays in Japan that kick off on Friday and continue on May 3-5. "The data is important, but trading is skewed ahead of the Golden Week," said Luke Waddington, head of forex trading at Royal Bank of Scotland in Tokyo. The dollar fetched 105.90 yen, giving up all of its gains after touching the day's high around 106.30 yen on the Japanese data. It was at 105.86 yen in late U.S. trade.