Japan and US Coordinate Historic Yen Intervention

The Japanese government has been actively intervening in the currency market to support the yen. In September 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government made its first intervention since 1998, buying yen for U.S. dollars and spending approximately 2.84 trillion yen (18 billion USD). This move was repeated on October 21 and 24 of that year, with the government spending around 5.62 trillion yen and 729.6 billion yen, respectively.

Over the next two years, Japan continued to intervene in the currency market. On April 29, 2024, the government spent about 5.92 trillion yen to support the yen. The following day, May 1, it conducted another intervention worth around 3.87 trillion yen. In July, Japan intervened for two consecutive days, spending approximately 3.17 trillion yen and 2.37 trillion yen on the 11th and 12th, respectively.

The interventions continued in 2025 and 2026. On October 21, 2025, Sanae Takaichi took office as Japanese prime minister. In January 2026, the yen surged against the U.S. dollar following reports of a 'rate check' by U.S. authorities with major banks.

In April and May of 2026, the yen rose sharply against the dollar multiple times, with Japan conducting interventions totaling more than 11 trillion yen. On July 30, Japan conducted another yen-buying intervention, followed by a surge in the yen's value against the dollar on July 31. This was described as the first coordinated intervention between Japan and the United States in 15 years.

On August 3, Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama confirmed that Japan and the U.S. had conducted a coordinated yen-buying operation.