Tag - currencies

 
 

CURRENCIES

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida show off the new banknotes in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 3, 2024
Japan releases new banknotes for first time in 20 years
The Bank of Japan plans to introduce a total of ¥1.6 trillion ($9.9 billion) worth of the new banknotes into circulation on Wednesday alone.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (back center) watches as workers prepare to ship the first bundles of newly designed ¥10,000 bills at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 3, 2024
Tokyo police warn of fraud linked to new banknotes
Since March, four individuals in their 80s and 90s have been swindled out of a combined total of approximately ¥15 million, according to police reports.
The yen’s depreciation is largely down to the gap in interest rates between the U.S. and Japan. Therefore, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is, to all intents and purposes, “Mr. Yen.”
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 1, 2024
There’s a new 'Mr. Yen' in town
No matter what the Bank of Japan or the Finance Ministry do, ultimate control over the yen's value lies in the hands of U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Samples of newly designed yen banknotes at the National Printing Bureau's Tokyo plant on June 19
BUSINESS / EXPLAINER
Jul 1, 2024
What you need to know about Japan's new banknotes
The last time the country redesigned its banknotes was 20 years ago.
A monitor at a foreign exchange brokerage in Tokyo shows the yen falling below ¥161 against the dollar on Friday morning.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 28, 2024
Japan names new forex diplomat as yen hits 38-year low
Atsushi Mimura, a financial regulation veteran, replaces Masato Kanda, who launched the biggest yen-buying intervention on record this year.
Goods related to Eiichi Shibusawa are sold at the Michi no Eki Okabe roadside rest station in Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture.
JAPAN
Jun 25, 2024
Sites linked to faces on new banknotes excited before release
The new ¥10,000, ¥5,000 and ¥1,000 notes will enter into circulation July 3 in what will be the country's first banknote redesigning in 20 years.
The U.S. Treasury Department said in a report released Thursday that it has placed Japan, which runs a large trade surplus with the United States, back on its monitoring list over currency practices.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 21, 2024
U.S. adds Japan to currency watchlist amid struggles with weak yen
Japan spent a record ¥9.8 trillion ($62 billion) earlier this year to prop up the yen.
The US economic engine has pulled in an increasing share of global capital.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 17, 2024
How the U.S. mopped up a third of global capital flows since COVID-19
The U.S. also pulled in a fresh wave of foreign direct investment thanks to billions of dollars worth of incentives.
A customer buys a ticket for ramen at a vending machine at Goumen Maruko ramen shop in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 8, 2024
Japan runs on vending machines. It’s about to break millions of them.
New yen notes set to be introduced this summer won't be compatible with many machines that businesses like ramen shops rely on.
Despite the Sino-American trade war, China's export competitiveness has strengthened, with its share of global exports increasing in 2023 and its trade surplus reaching $823 billion.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2024
Why the U.S. can’t win the trade war with China — and shouldn’t try
There is no evidence that China is actively targeting the exchange rate, and even the U.S. does not label China as a currency manipulator.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda (center), Bank of Italy Gov. Fabio Panetta (left) and Italy's Minister of Economy and Finance Giancarlo Giorgetti at the Group of Seven finance chiefs and central bankers' meeting in Stresa on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 26, 2024
Bank of Japan refrains from warning against yield rise to 12-year high
The BOJ ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its radical monetary stimulus in March.
A man rides a bicycle past an electronic screen displaying the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and other foreign currencies in Tokyo earlier this month.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 18, 2024
Short yen wagers linger due to gap between U.S.-Japan rate paths
The gulf between Japan’s ultralow interest rate and U.S. rates stuck at a two-decade high is keeping the pressure on the yen.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 30, 2024
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
The size and timing of the swing indicates that the government stepped in after the currency fell significantly.
A monitor shows the yen's sharp decline to  ¥158 to the dollar on Saturday morning in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 27, 2024
Yen drops beyond ¥157 per dollar as BOJ keeps key rate unchanged
Japan’s currency weakened as much as 1.4% on the day and touched a session low of ¥157.79 per dollar in afternoon trading in New York.
An electronic board in Tokyo showing the yen-dollar rate on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 24, 2024
Japan ‘very close’ to yen intervention, former top currency official says
Market reaction to U.S. data could encourage Japanese authorities to act about the yen, according to Mitsuhiro Furusawa.
The dollar's resurgence has come on the back of a slew of signs that the U.S. economy avoided the slowdown many anticipated.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 23, 2024
U.S. dollar’s extended reign delivers stark wake-up call to markets
Global investors are talking about "U.S. exceptionalism” after a predicted slowdown to the nation's economy didn't transpire.
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki (from left), U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and South Korean Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok hold a trilateral meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Apr 20, 2024
Political heat prods Japan and South Korea to team up on weak currencies
The matter is all the more urgent with Middle East tensions threatening to push up oil prices and accelerate cost pressures.
Ideal or not, the reality of the world is that one currency, the U.S. dollar, is first among equals.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 18, 2024
Asian currencies can't fight the dollar on a rampage
Markets tend to reflect economic performance. And ideal or not, the reality of a world is one currency, the U.S. dollar, is truly first among equals.
Workers clean argeli bark in the Ilam district of eastern Nepal. Thousands of miles away, in Japan, the bark will be used to make yen notes.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 16, 2024
On Himalayan hillsides grows Japan’s cold, hard cash
One of the poorest pockets of Asia supplies a primary ingredient for the economy in one of the richest.
Former Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs Tatsuo Yamasaki previously warned of the possibility of a looming currency intervention two days before Japan entered markets in September 2022.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 3, 2024
Ex-finance official who warned of Japan's 2022 yen intervention sounds alarm
"Officials wouldn’t have issued such strong warnings unless they were prepared.” said Tatsuo Yamasaki, a former vice minister overseeing the yen.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?