Japan’s top currency diplomat, Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Atsushi Mimura, renewed his warning against excessive foreign-exchange volatility on Thursday, 12 November, as the yen again edged toward the closely watched 160-per-dollar level, Reuters reported. “I won’t comment on the current exchange-rate level, but I believe recent currency moves have been excessively rapid,” Mimura told reporters, adding: “It’s still too early to forget what happened this summer” — a reference to Japan’s yen-buying interventions in late July through early August, one of which was conducted jointly with the United States.
The dollar rose to 159.94 yen early Thursday, its strongest level in over two months, driven by growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates after hot US inflation data and hawkish comments from policymakers.
For anyone converting money into or out of yen — including property buyers and residents in Japan — Mimura’s repeated warnings signal that Tokyo sees the current level as uncomfortable and is prepared to intervene again if the rate moves much further, as it did this summer.
