07/05/2026
Japan’s top currency officials stated that after the authorities were suspected of intervening in the foreign exchange market during the holiday period, Japan has made comprehensive preparations to deal with speculative activities in the foreign exchange market and maintain exchange rate stability.
On Thursday, when asked whether the recent trend of the yen was affected by crude oil futures in an interview with reporters, Vice Minister of Finance of Japan Atsushi Mimura responded: “We are intervening from all angles.” He also added that given the continuous speculative activities in the market, the authorities are closely monitoring every dynamic of the foreign exchange market with a high sense of urgency and alerting to abnormal fluctuations.
Mimura declined to comment on the sharp fluctuations of the yen on Wednesday. It is reported that the yen soared by about 1.8% in just 30 minutes that day, briefly touching a high of 155.04 yen per US dollar, the highest level in nearly 10 weeks. By Thursday morning, in the Tokyo foreign exchange market, the yen exchange rate against the US dollar fell back to about 156.35 yen.
In addition, Mimura also refused to comment on whether the Ministry of Finance has set a clear exchange rate level to defend. Under normal circumstances, the consistent statement of Japanese currency officials is that their intervention actions target sharp market fluctuations or abnormal fluctuations caused by excessive speculation, rather than defending a specific exchange rate level.
Since the reported yen intervention on April 30, coinciding with Japan’s Golden Week holiday (which officially ended on Wednesday), the yen has risen sharply several times during the period. The market generally speculates that these gains are driven by a new round of intervention operations by the Japanese authorities, which has also raised widespread questions from the outside world: to what extent can the Tokyo authorities intervene in the foreign exchange market while maintaining Japan’s status under the free floating exchange rate system guided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
According to the relevant guidelines of the IMF, if Japan hopes to retain its status as a free floating exchange rate system, the country can carry out at most two more three-day intervention operations before November this year. However, Mimura clearly stated that these rules will not limit the number of times Japan enters the foreign exchange market.
It is worth noting that with the end of the Golden Week holiday and the gradual recovery of liquidity in the foreign exchange market, Japanese authorities may face greater difficulties in further influencing the exchange rate level.
“The holiday is over, and the weekend is coming again,” Mimura said in the interview. His statement was obviously intended to send a signal to investors, maintain a cautious market sentiment, and curb excessive speculative activities.
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