Japanese investors have begun bringing money home, but uncertainty over where bond yields will peak and how far the Bank of Japan must raise interest rates is delaying a broader repatriation of overseas assets. The central bank’s rate hike last week, pledges to address inflation and a reported foreign-exchange market rate check appear to have discouraged another wave of speculative bets against the yen. However, two dovish dissenting votes at the meeting and a further bond selloff have left major investors reluctant to commit heavily to Japanese government bonds while yields continue climbing. The yen has surrendered most of its early-September gains and traded near 159 per dollar on Friday, close to the 157 median six-month forecast from analysts polled by Reuters earlier this month. It is down about 1% this year after reaching a nearly four-decade low just below 164 per dollar in July. Speculative yen positioning shifted from a deep net short to a net long of $9.7 billion in the first two weeks of September, the largest long position since July 2025. Ten-year JGB yields have risen two percentage points in less than two years to above 3%, while Japanese investors bought 4.8 trillion yen of sovereign debt last month. HSBC estimates Japanese banks have sold about $70 billion of foreign bonds this year, compared with $35 billion of purchases last year. Analysts say a larger shift may depend on evidence that Japanese yields have peaked, including any change by the $1.8 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund. Rising U.S. yields and expectations of further Federal Reserve tightening could continue to limit the yen’s gains.