Kihara’s comments come after a week when the yen hit fresh lows against the US dollar and the government issued its strongest warnings about intervention yet. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki earlier said he was concerned about the very sudden and one-sided moves in the currency market, following on from earlier comments by the Japanese government’s top spokesman.
Officials have not yet offered specifics on how they might act to stem the yen’s rapid depreciation. Masato Kanda, vice finance minister of international affairs, said Thursday that should the yen’s rapid fall continue, the government will be “ready to take necessary responses in the foreign exchange market, without ruling out any options.”
Kihara on Sunday said that inbound tourism is an area for which the yen’s decline will “work most effectively.” Japan will further relax its tourism rules for incoming overseas travellers at an “appropriate time,” he said, adding that the country “must not fall behind” the rest of the world.
