Japan vows coordination with US to combat weak yen, pushing corporations toward Bitcoin

Japan and the United States are stepping up their coordination to address the yen’s relentless slide. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and top currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura have both stressed the importance of working closely with the US Treasury on exchange rate matters, following a period of aggressive rate checks by the New York Fed that briefly jolted the yen back to life. The currency rallied more than 3% from its lows in late January 2026, pushing USD/JPY down to approximately 154. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments aimed at countering speculative movements in the yen contributed to this recovery. A record-breaking intervention The coordination framework is built on a formal FX coordination memorandum signed in September 2025, establishing a joint action playbook for dealing with extreme currency fluctuations. Between April 28 and May 27, 2026, Japan deployed a staggering ¥11.73 trillion, roughly $72.4 billion, in direct currency intervention as USD/JPY blew past 160. That’s a record sum. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with top Japanese officials in May 2026 to discuss currency policy. The rate gap nobody can close The Bank of Japan has pushed its policy ra...