Japan and the United States coordinated currency intervention on July 30 and 31, driving the yen from around ¥162.80 to ¥157.80 and briefly to ¥155.20 per dollar after it approached a 40-year low near ¥164. The operation, Japan’s first joint intervention with Washington since 1998, involved Japan buying yen and the U.S. Treasury selling euros to purchase yen. Estimates of Japan’s contribution range from about $59 billion to $85 billion, while an earlier estimate put the amount at ¥8.45 trillion, or roughly $53.1 billion. The yen had weakened back to the ¥158-¥160 range by mid-August as the Federal Reserve’s relatively high rates, the Bank of Japan’s low-rate policy, carry-trade demand and rising energy-import costs continued to weigh on the currency. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the operation, and President Donald Trump acknowledged U.S. participation. Both officials signaled that further intervention remained possible, while the Bank of Japan could face pressure to raise rates despite Governor Kazuo Ueda’s cautious approach. Washington also sought to limit the risk that a disorderly yen collapse would spill into U.S. Treasury markets and global funding conditions, but the decision to sell euros instead of dollars heightened European concerns about coordination.