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The story
On the 3rd, the yen surged in Tokyo trading, briefly touching the ¥156 range against the dollar — its strongest level in about a month, since August 7. That’s roughly a ¥3 move in 24 hours from around ¥159.70 the previous evening, with the yen-buying pinned on growing expectations of a BOJ rate hike and remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent. On 5ch, opinions split over whether a stronger yen will actually ease prices and daily life, with pessimists insisting “companies won’t cut prices” clashing against optimists hoping “imports will get cheaper.” The thread also debated long-term interest rates and expansionary fiscal policy.
In Tokyo foreign exchange trading on the 3rd, the yen briefly climbed into the ¥156 range against the dollar — the first time it’s hit that level in about a month, since August 7. Alongside growing expectations that the Bank of Japan will accelerate rate hikes, remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent fueled speculation about a correction to the weak yen, driving a wave of yen buying.
As of 5pm on the 2nd, the rate was hovering around ¥159.70. In New York trading that same day it strengthened to around ¥158.21 at one point, and it strengthened further still in Tokyo trading on the 3rd. …(437 characters remaining in the paid version)
Nikkei, September 3, 2026, 11:38 (updated 16:02, September 3, 2026)
Source: nikkei.com / Original article here
What people said
Big corporations have zero intention of lowering prices — they'll just whine about shrinking profits from the strong yen and use it as an excuse to jack up prices even more.
Nothing changes until someone smashes big business's special privileges.
Well yeah, obviously.
Nobody's honest enough to actually lower prices just because the yen got stronger.
There might be the odd sale here and there, but that's basically how it'll go.
Maybe there's an outside chance of a de facto price cut though.
And when that happens, what excuse will the bottom-feeders who wanted a strong yen come up with next?
JGB yields are headed to 5%.
Actually, 10-year bond yields are falling, not rising, as inflation worries ease.
You clearly don't get it — long-term bond yields are rising precisely BECAUSE they're not hiking rates lol
Since last year, the joint operations command for the Self-Defense Forces and U.S. Forces Japan has been based at the Akasaka Press Center, you know? 🤣🤣🤣
That's wrong.
JJOC is in Ichigaya.
If you don't even know what JJOC is, you're not even in the conversation.
Shouldn't you be buying while the yen's still a bit stronger?
You can snag Orikan (the popular "All Country" world-index fund) on the cheap right now.
Here's my situation as a 57-year-old unmarried corporate slave:
Regular savings: ¥3 million
Time deposits: ¥7 million
Pension insurance: ¥5 million
Stocks: worth about ¥25 million
Land and buildings: worth about ¥30 million
That's just how it is 🤣🤣🤣
What's actually needed is fixing the underlying fundamentals that have lost the market's trust.
Until that happens, downward pressure on the yen is guaranteed to continue.
The U.S. is issuing way more debt than Japan, so it can only end in dollar weakness.
How much debt gets issued has nothing to do with exchange rates.
They say the truly rich are snapping up hard assets.
In the U.S., apparently they're hedging with farmland and the like.
Hard to say. What used to be panic-driven moves now really feels like it's turned into pure indecision.
I think they want Japan to boost domestic demand so we end up buying more American products.
Cheaper imports should actually help a lot of companies recover too.
https://imgur.com/Hjgdi3b.jpg
Based on experience, I don't think so.
That's coming from someone who's lived through Showa (the bubble era), Heisei, and now Reiwa.
What about oil and energy, for starters?
Actually, what kind of "experience" are you even talking about?
Does oil just spring up domestically when the yen gets strong or something?
For goods with a high share of imported raw materials that aren't processed much — like gasoline — sure, prices drop.
But goods that rely heavily on imported materials yet still go through processing barely move.
And services? They don't budge at all.
Japan, with its service-heavy economy, is a country where exchange-rate swings have relatively little effect on overall prices.
Then why did the "Lost 30 Years" even happen, lol.
Back when it was ¥80 to the dollar, there was a massive labor surplus.
That just means things stayed as manageable as they did because imports were cheap.
The Lost 30 Years happened because the Japanese government let the shortfall in domestic demand go unaddressed.
Go learn the basics.
People like me who just want to flee the country?
People who get off on ordinary folks suffering.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
As the phrase “correction to the weak yen” suggests, today’s surge is being attributed to two overlapping factors: expectations of a BOJ rate hike and remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent. Where the thread split was over whether a stronger yen actually benefits household budgets. Whether companies pass falling input costs on as lower prices varies a lot by industry — goods like gasoline, which rely heavily on imported raw materials and undergo little processing, are highly sensitive to exchange-rate moves, while for Japan’s overall price level, dominated as it is by services, the effect of a stronger yen is seen as limited. On long-term interest rates too, opinions clashed between the intuitive view that “rate hikes push bond yields up” and the counter-view that “yields are rising precisely because the BOJ isn’t hiking, due to inflation concerns” — a reminder that this can’t be explained by a simple formula. Some also pointed out that whether the yen’s rebound actually translates into a better standard of living depends on how companies handle pricing going forward.
*This article was compiled by excerpting and summarizing the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “[Forex] Yen Surges to ¥156 Range for First Time in a Month — Up ¥3 in 24 Hours Amid Bets on Weak-Yen Correction.”
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