Japan will benefit from a strong yen because it will hold down prices for raw materials, said Eisuke Sakakibara, one of Japan's former top currency officials.
"I still believe a strong yen is in the national interest of Japan, particularly in this situation when raw material prices will increase," Sakakibara said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Singapore.
Sakakibara, 67, is a professor at Waseda University in Tokyo and a member of the Asia-Pacific advisory board of Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.