Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa expressed concern Thursday over the yen's rapid decline recently against the U.S. dollar.

"My impression is that the pace of the decline is a bit too fast," Shiokawa said, noting the Japanese currency has fallen more than 2 yen against the dollar since early January.

"It was trading at around 131 yen in early January . . . the fact that it fluctuated more than 2 yen during a period of only 10 days is a bit much," he said.

Shiokawa said a fluctuation of around 1 yen could be considered normal but declined to comment on the yen's outlook.

In trading Thursday, the dollar was quoted at 132.27-132.30 yen in Tokyo at 5 p.m.

While Shiokawa has indicated that he favors a weaker yen, he appears to have changed his mind slightly in response to concerns by some of Japan's trading partners about the yen's excessive decline, according to financial analysts.

Dollar headed for 160 yen

The U.S. dollar could rise to between 150 yen and 160 yen by the end of this year, according to Eisuke Sakakibara, former vice finance minister for international affairs.

"The current weak undertone of the yen basically reflects the weakness of the Japanese economy's fundamentals," Sakakibara said.

The trend is also in line with the weakened competitiveness of Japanese businesses, he said.

But Sakakibara denied Japanese government officials are trying to induce a lower yen against the U.S. currency by making comments in favor of a weak yen.