Only about 30% of Japanese companies have taken substantive measures to ensure economic security, such as diversifying procurement sources and strengthening cybersecurity, with less profitable firms tending not to take any such action, according to a government report released on Friday, the Japan Times reported. According to the 2026 white paper on manufacturing industries, adopted at a Cabinet meeting the same day, the proportion of firms working on economic security measures had risen from about 40% in fiscal 2024 to about 60% in fiscal 2025.

Japan spent more than $73 billion to support the yen over the past month, representing its first intervention since 2024 as officials grow concerned about a weaker currency driving up the cost of imports such as food and energy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The yen has come under fierce pressure in recent months as the Middle East conflict spurs haven demand for the dollar. Japanese officials had tried to cool speculative activity by threatening to intervene, even using meetings with U.S. officials to discuss potential joint action.

Japanese banks are, in a historic shift, competing to shore up their deposit base as lending ​opportunities grow and consumers, seeking to beat inflation, shift their savings into a booming stock market, Reuters reported. While banks had ‌been able to count on ample deposits for decades, growing prospects domestically are pushing them to get creative or risk having to put a brake on lending. Interest on deposits is rising as the Bank of Japan gradually raises rates, but consumers are also seeing inflation eating into their savings after decades of deflation.

Japan was overtaken by China as the world’s second-largest creditor nation in 2025 despite setting a fresh record for its tally of overseas assets, Bloomberg News reported. Japan’s net external assets rose to an all-time high of ¥561.8 trillion ($3.5 trillion) at the end of 2025, according to Finance Ministry data released Tuesday. Despite the increase, the total was surpassed by China, whose net external assets climbed at a faster pace to ¥636.3 trillion. The shift came a year after Japan lost its position as the world’s largest creditor nation to Germany for the first time in 34 years.

Japan’s key inflation gauge rose at the slowest pace in four years as the government continued to help ease the cost of living, creating difficult optics for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates soon, Bloomberg reported. Japan’s core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, rose 1.4% in April from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said Friday. That was lower than all estimates in a survey of economists. Taking out energy prices as well, the CPI climbed 1.9% on an annual basis, also below expectations.

Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama indicated her resolve to intervene in a foreign exchange market to prop up the yen as needed as her Group of Seven counterparts understand the nation’s stance, the Japan Times reported. “We have understanding” from the G7 counterparts, Katayama told reporters in Paris on Tuesday after meeting with them. “We will take bold action as needed.” This was the first G7 meeting after Japan is suspected of conducting a series of interventions to support the yen from the end of last month.

The Japanese economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.1% in the January-March quarter, the government said Tuesday, showing its resilience despite rising energy prices because of the war in Iran, the Associated Press reported. Japan’s real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum value of a nation’s goods and services, grew at a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from the previous quarter. It was the second straight quarter of growth. The annualized number shows what the growth, or contraction, would have been if the quarterly rate continued for a year.

Japanese authorities likely refrained from intervening in the currency market on Thursday, the first business day of this week, after multiple apparent actions during the long holiday weekend, according to a Bloomberg analysis of central bank accounts. The latest figures come as analysts try to gauge the scale of the latest salvo of yen buying and compare it with a similar campaign of intervention in 2024.

Japan faces no constraints on how often it can ​intervene in currency markets and is in daily contact with U.S. authorities, its top currency diplomat said on Thursday, reinforcing Tokyo's resolve to defend the embattled yen, Reuters reported. The remarks ‌by Atsushi Mimura come ahead of a visit to Japan next week by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, placing the yen, possible intervention and the Bank of Japan's rate path firmly under the spotlight as investors weigh whether Tokyo can shore up its currency on its own, or will need U.S. backing to do so.