For Japan, a weak yen has fanned import prices, creating cost-of-living headaches for successive governments, including current Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's. "Including online meetings, we've held talks about 10 times for discussions that included exchange rates," Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Monday on how frequently she spoke with Bessent. Bessent, too, said Japan's fundamentals are "strong and resilient, ‌and that will be reflected in the exchange rate." A month later, the BOJ raised interest rates to a 31-year high of 1% in a landmark step in policy normalisation. But with Japan's real borrowing costs deeply negative, the move failed to give a lasting boost to the sagging currency.