The yen briefly hit 160.20 to the dollar in New York on 28 August, back at the 160 level shortly after a round of yen-buying intervention. In the same days a post about water and a cookie costing about 2,400 yen at a US airport spread under the line 'the yen is finished.' Airport prices do not stand in for general US price levels, and the split over that point ran through the whole discussion.
A Reuters photograph showed a handwritten note attributed to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reading 'To Do Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil'. The Financial Times reported on 31 July that the US side had sold euros to buy yen, which would make it the first Japan-US coordinated yen-buying intervention since 1998, and the yen touched 157.24 to the dollar in New York. The note itself establishes intent rather than execution, and Japan's own monthly intervention figures are not due until 28 August.
The dollar-yen rate moved from the 163-164 range to 157 and then back to 160 in a matter of hours. Japanese authorities have not confirmed that they intervened. The threads barely argued about whether an intervention happened: the consensus was that nothing works while the US-Japan interest-rate gap stays where it is, and the more interesting question became whether the real motive was the exchange rate at all.
The dollar climbed past 163 yen, a roughly 40-year low, while the Korean won strengthened, leaving Japanese commenters to trade 'Asia's weakest currency' self-mockery, export-upside arguments, calls for intervention, and blame aimed at the government.