Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki and Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Dawei agreed Tuesday to exchange information on the yuan, according to a Finance Ministry official.
Tanigaki stressed, however, that a decision on whether to float the currency rests with China alone, the official said.
"I believe this is something that China itself will make a decision on," the official quoted the minister as telling Wu, who visited the ministry to congratulate Tanigaki on his appointment to the post last month.
"However, we would like to continue exchanges of information on this topic."
Wu agreed to the information swap, according to the official.
The agreement does not mean the two countries will set up a particular panel for these discussions, the official said. Rather, they will engage in dialogue through existing channels.
China is under pressure to relax its grip on the yuan, which is pegged in a narrow range of around 8.28 to the dollar.
Critics say the arrangement keeps the currency unfairly undervalued.
During the 20-minute meeting, Wu asked Japan to maintain its yen loans to China.
Tanigaki noted that there is opposition toward the extension of aid in some Japanese quarters.