September 7, 2026

Japan Watch

Bessent’s Quixotic Attempt to Strengthen the Yen | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

Bessent’s Quixotic Attempt to Strengthen the Yen | American Enterprise Institute– www.aei.org
News Source
EXCERPT:

George Santanyana, the Spanish philosopher, famously said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

When it comes to foreign currency intervention, it is surprising that of all people, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund operator, seems to have forgotten the many earlier attempts at foreign exchange intervention that failed for want of being supported by fundamental economic policy change. This has induced Mr. Bessent to embark on a quixotic attempt to prop up the swooning Japanese yen with foreign exchange intervention without requiring that the Bank of Japan hikes interest rates or that the Japanese government addresses Japan’s public finance sustainability problem.

If there is one episode of failed foreign exchange intervention with which Mr. Bessent should be more than familiar, it is that in support of the pound sterling in 1992. In that year, the Bank of England failed to prevent a humiliating sterling devaluation despite massive foreign exchange intervention and then large interest rate hikes. After all, Mr. Bessent was a principal advisor to George Soros in his successful attempt to break the Bank of England on what came to be known as Black Wednesday.

Japanese lawmakers travel to Beijing, seeking to mend ties after fallout– abcnews.com

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

Japanese lawmakers travel to Beijing, seeking to mend ties after fallout– abcnews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

TOKYO — A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers, including one from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party, headed to Beijing on Monday to meet with Chinese officials for the first time since ties between the two Asian rivals deteriorated after Takaichi’s comment on Taiwan angered China.

Japan seeks a chance to mend its strained ties with China as tensions have spilled over into the economy.

The group, which includes Gaku Hashimoto, a lawmaker of Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and a former health and welfare vice minister, and a lawmaker each from two opposition parties Komeito and the Centrist Reform Alliance, is to meet with Chinese Communist Party officials during their visit through Thursday.

“Communication has been severed in all areas and we are beginning to see their impact in many areas,” Shinichi Isa, a top spokesperson for the CRA party, told reporters before leaving Tokyo’s Haneda airport. “I hope we can somehow find a clue to restart a dialogue.”

Isa, who has served as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in China, wrote on X earlier this month that bilateral ties have sunk to their worst since the 1972 normalization of relations. He wrote that officials had always remained in communication even during previous lows: “Now all channels between officials and ministries have been cut off.”

The situation is not in the national interest of either side, Isa said at the time, and the Chinese side accepted a request from Japanese lawmakers for a “window for dialogue.”

Japan’s economy slows, missing growth forecasts | Business and Economy– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

Japan’s economy slows, missing growth forecasts | Business and Economy– www.aljazeera.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Japan’s economy has slowed in the second quarter of the year amid moribund consumption and capital spending, according to official figures.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.3 percent in the April-June period from the first quarter, data released by Japan’s Cabinet Office on Monday showed. It was the third consecutive expansion but was down from 0.5 percent growth in the previous quarter and missed the 0.5 percent growth analysts had forecast.

On an annualised basis, the world’s fourth-largest economy expanded 1.1 percent.

A survey of 37 economists conducted by the Japan Center for Economic Research, a think tank, had forecast an annualised expansion of 1.67 percent.

Private consumption was flat in real terms while capital expenditures fell 1.2 percent, or 4.6 percent on an annualised basis, offsetting strong exports, according to the data.

Japanese lawmakers travel to Beijing, seeking to mend ties after fallout– abcnews.com

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

Japanese lawmakers travel to Beijing, seeking to mend ties after fallout– abcnews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

TOKYO — A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers, including one from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party, headed to Beijing on Monday to meet with Chinese officials for the first time since ties between the two Asian rivals deteriorated after Takaichi’s comment on Taiwan angered China.

Japan seeks a chance to mend its strained ties with China as tensions have spilled over into the economy.

The group, which includes Gaku Hashimoto, a lawmaker of Takaichi’s governing Liberal Democratic Party and a former health and welfare vice minister, and a lawmaker each from two opposition parties Komeito and the Centrist Reform Alliance, is to meet with Chinese Communist Party officials during their visit through Thursday.

“Communication has been severed in all areas and we are beginning to see their impact in many areas,” Shinichi Isa, a top spokesperson for the CRA party, told reporters before leaving Tokyo’s Haneda airport. “I hope we can somehow find a clue to restart a dialogue.”

Isa, who has served as a diplomat at the Japanese Embassy in China, wrote on X earlier this month that bilateral ties have sunk to their worst since the 1972 normalization of relations. He wrote that officials had always remained in communication even during previous lows: “Now all channels between officials and ministries have been cut off.”

The situation is not in the national interest of either side, Isa said at the time, and the Chinese side accepted a request from Japanese lawmakers for a “window for dialogue.”

U.S. Props Yen with Euros

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

The Department of Treasury is using its Exchange Stabilization Fund to buy Japanese Yen in the hopes of propping up the dangerously weak currency. This hasn’t happened in 30 years. The U.S. is not using U.S. dollars; it is using Euros.

This action follows a recent previous Treasury intervention to help a weakening Argentinian currency. That deal resulted in the loan being paid back in full (at profit). These interventions signal a shift in Treasury policy from two plus decades of international currency passivity to aggressive interventionism.

U.S. Treasury sells euros, not dollars, to help lift yen. Economists warn it could backfire– fortune.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

The U.S. is stepping in to help boost Japan’s yen for the first time in nearly three decades after the currency hit a 40-year low, but the intervention has an unusual feature: instead of selling dollars to buy yen, the New York Fed reportedly sold euros to fund the purchase.

The coordinated move on Friday lifted the yen to 157 to the dollar and marked the first time the U.S. and Japan jointly bought the currency since 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. In 2011, the U.S., alongside the G7,  weakened the yen after the Fukushima disaster caused the yen to be too strong, threatening Japan’s export-reliant economy.

Japan is estimated to have spent $52.8 billion. The exact amount from the U.S. is unknown, though a photo of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s notepad suggests a range between $5 billion to $10 billion.

Japan, US confirm joint yen-buying intervention, signal more action– www.channelnewsasia.com

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

Japan, US confirm joint yen-buying intervention, signal more action– www.channelnewsasia.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

Japan has been struggling to curb a relentless drop in the yen that pushes up import prices and stokes broader inflation, hitting households’ wallets and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s public approval ratings.

Tokyo’s solo intervention conducted between late April and early May caused only a brief yen rebound. The BOJ’s June rate hike to a 31-year high of 1 per cent also gave the struggling currency little lasting boost.

Friday’s joint intervention followed Tokyo’s solo intervention worth up to US$58.97 billion in New York markets a day earlier.

In a sign of further Japan-US coordination, Bessent said the United States would consider increasing in coming months the size of the Federal Reserve’s repurchase facility providing temporary dollar liquidity, calling the tool an “important backstop”.

Japan raises safety concern over Chinese destroyer’s live-fire drills– abcnews.com

pgnewser July 22, 2026 0

Japan raises safety concern over Chinese destroyer’s live-fire drills– abcnews.com
News Source
EXCERPT:

TOKYO — Japan expressed concern after a Chinese navy destroyer conducted live-fire drills off a remote Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday during its joint exercise with Russia, officials said Tuesday.

The Chinese Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire exercise off Japan’s southernmost island of Okinotori, hours after the Japanese navy spotted it operating alongside two other Chinese warships and a Russian frigate, the Japanese Joint Staff said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that his government conveyed concerns that the live-fire drills posed a potential safety threat to nearby vessels. He noted that ships near the area received a notice from the Chinese warships just before the drills started.

“We will continue to watch China-Russia operations around Japan with concern, while doing utmost for the warning and surveillance of the Japanese airspace and territorial waters,” Kihara said.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, in a speech Monday in Britain, said the action underscored “the deepening military cooperation between China and Russia,” as he also noted China’s ballistic missile launch from a submarine earlier this month, and at least 10 joint flights conducted by Chinese and Russian bombers around Japan.

Trump Highlights His ‘Great Love’ and ‘Respect of Japan’– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser October 28, 2025 0

Blurb:

President Donald Trump revealed during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae on Monday that he has “always had a great love of Japan,” adding that he also has “great respect” for Japan.

“I have always had a great love of Japan and a great respect of Japan, and I will say that this will be a relationship that will be stronger than ever before, and I look forward to working with you,” Trump said. “On behalf of our country, I want to just let you know, anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there. We are an ally at the strongest level.”

Trump’s visit to Japan comes after Takaichi, who is Japan’s first female prime minister, won a “historic vote.”

Breitbart News’s Simon Kent reported that Takaichi, a conservative, who is “also the first woman to lead the dominant Liberal Democratic Party,” also “opposes same-sex marriage and allowing separate surnames for married couples”:

Trump’s lowered 15% tariff on cars from Japan to take effect Tuesday– japantoday.com

pgnewser September 17, 2025 0

Trump’s lowered 15% tariff on cars from Japan to take effect Tuesday– japantoday.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s lowered tariff of 15 percent on automobiles from Japan will take effect Tuesday, the Commerce Department said, about four months after his aggressive trade agenda started damaging the industrial backbone of one of Washington’s key allies.

The department announced the timing of the adjustment on Monday. The U.S. tariff rate for foreign-origin cars rose to 27.5 percent after Trump imposed in April an additional auto tariff on national security grounds, squeezing the margins of Japanese automakers and other manufacturers.

The reduced tariff is part of a trade deal the Trump administration struck on July 22 with Japan, which in return has committed to investing heavily in the United States and increasing imports of American agricultural products during the president’s nonconsecutive second term.

Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 4 formally implementing the trade agreement, which also granted Japan special treatment on what he calls “reciprocal” tariffs.

The department’s notice to be published Tuesday said that as agreed by the two countries, Trump’s additional 25 percent tariff imposed in May on major auto parts, including engines and transmissions, will also be cut to 15 percent for those coming from Japan.

U.S., South Korea and Japan open joint air and naval exercise– japantoday.com

pgnewser September 15, 2025 0

U.S., South Korea and Japan open joint air and naval exercise– japantoday.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

The United States, South Korea and Japan opened an air and naval exercise off a South Korean island Monday in their latest joint drill condemned by North Korea as a “reckless show of strength.”

The exercise called Freedom Edge is aimed at strengthening the countries’ combined operational capabilities in the sea, air and cyberspace and is necessary to counter North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the exercise will include U.S. Marine and Air Force aerial assets and feature enhanced ballistic-missile and air-defense drills, medical evacuations and maritime operations training, making it “the most advanced demonstration of trilateral defense cooperation to date.”

The exercise off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island runs through Friday.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier condemned the drills in state media, saying they show the countries’ confrontational stance toward the North.

“The reckless show of strength made by them in real action in the vicinity of the DPRK, which is the wrong place, will inevitably bring bad results to themselves,” Kim Yo Jong said, using the initials of North Korea’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Japan strongly criticizes Israeli strike on Hamas in Qatar– japantoday.com

pgnewser September 10, 2025 1

Japan strongly criticizes Israeli strike on Hamas in Qatar– japantoday.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

The Japanese government on Wednesday strongly criticized Israel for its airstrike targeting leaders of Palestinian militant group Hamas in Qatar, saying its actions endangered stability in the Middle East.

“At a time when serious diplomatic efforts are underway by countries including Qatar to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza and secure the releases of hostages, Israel’s attack hinders those efforts, threatens Qatar’s sovereignty and security, and endangers regional stability,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

“Japan strongly condemns” Israel’s actions, the chief cabinet secretary said at a regular press conference in Tokyo.

Israel targeted top-level Hamas officials in Doha on Tuesday. Qatar has been a key diplomatic player in the Middle East and is mediating peace talks between Hamas and Israel.

The current conflict in the Palestinian region began after the militant group Hamas launched an attack in Israel and took hostages in October 2023, prompting massive Israeli retaliation. Many people in the Gaza Strip are facing starvation as the conflict continues.

Japan’s PM Steps Down, Setting Country in Political Turmoil

Japan’s PM Steps Down, Setting Country in Political Turmoil

pgnewser September 8, 2025 0

Japan’s PM Steps Down, Setting Country in Political Turmoil

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigns – 조선일보
Source Link
Excerpt:

Shigeru Ishiba, 68 years old, officially announced his intention to step down on the 7th, 11 months after assuming the position of Japanese Prime Minister. Prime Minister Ishiba, who had faced internal criticism within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since his defeat in the July Upper House election, had previously stated multiple times his intention to maintain the administration. However, he ultimately chose to resign just before the party began procedures to ask its members whether to hold an early leadership election.

The LDP plans to elect a new leader next month, and the parliamentary vote to appoint the next prime minister is expected to take place as early as the same month. With Prime Minister Ishiba, who has been friendly toward South Korea, stepping down, significant repercussions are anticipated for South Korea-Japan relations. Sanae Takaichi, former Minister of State for Economic Security, and Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, both known for their strong right-wing tendencies, are being widely mentioned as potential candidates for the next prime minister.