By Makiko Yamazaki, Takaya Yamaguchi and Leika Kihara
TOKYO, Sept 28 (Reuters) – Japan’s top currency diplomat Atsushi Mimura said on Monday markets should take at face value the “very clear” message Tokyo and Washington delivered last week on the yen, signalling his resolve to act against excessive falls in the currency.
US President Donald Trump raised concerns about yen weakness at a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday, offering an unusually detailed account of the leaders’ talks on currencies.
“Japan’s prime minister, finance minister and the US have sent a very clear message. Markets should take that message at face value,” Mimura said in an interview with Reuters on the yen’s recent declines. “I will be watching closely whether markets will continue to take (the message) at face value.”
While he declined to comment on whether Japan could intervene again to prop up the yen, Mimura said he remained neither satisfied nor reassured over the yen’s recent moves – suggesting that Tokyo remained on guard against the risk of renewed declines in the currency.
In a sign of Tokyo and Washington’s shared determination to address the weak yen, Katayama and her US counterpart Scott Bessent reaffirmed that the yen’s undervaluation is a matter of concern in phone talks on Friday.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki, Takaya Yamaguchi and Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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