Japan spent 15.4 trillion yen, roughly $100 billion, on foreign exchange intervention last month, the largest single-month currency defense operation in the country’s history. The spending exceeded Japan’s approximately 15.3 trillion yen, or about $99 billion, deployed across all of 2024. It also surpassed the previous monthly record of 9.8 trillion yen set between late April and May 2024. Earlier this year, Japan reportedly spent 6.28 trillion yen in a single yen-buying session on April 30, while total intervention between late April and late May reached 11.73 trillion yen, or $73 billion. The operations are drawing down Japan’s foreign reserves, which fell by about $77 billion in May, largely because of foreign-securities sales. Yen purchases have provided temporary relief but have not overcome the yield advantage of U.S. assets, safe-haven dollar demand linked to Middle East tensions and cautious Bank of Japan rate increases. Japan and the United States also conducted their first coordinated currency intervention since 1998 during July and August of this year. Analysts say sustained yen stabilization may require more aggressive Bank of Japan rate hikes, while prolonged sales of U.S. Treasury securities could eventually put upward pressure on U.S. bond yields.