Why This Topic Landed in Japan

On September 25, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama disclosed that at the Japan-U.S. summit, President Trump had "expressed concern about the weak yen." Prime Minister Takaichi responded, as a general matter, that "the yen's undervaluation is a problem." Because Takaichi and her economic advisers had been associated with a "a weak yen is a windfall" line, hearing her call undervaluation a problem — apparently under U.S. pressure — struck many as leaving her own weak-yen backers "hanging out to dry," and as a contradiction. The gap with everyday pain from a weak yen (import-driven price rises, mortgage rates, the trade deficit), plus the "right after the summit" timing, added a market-minded suspicion of verbal intervention or groundwork for a rate hike. That said, Takaichi's comment was framed "as a general matter," and there is nothing to confirm it as a shift in government policy.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Confusion and sarcasm over the apparent shift (most) — Pointing to the contradiction between "a weak yen is a windfall" and "undervaluation is a problem," and the reflationists' sense of being abandoned.
  • Sober points about structural drivers — "Until the U.S.-Japan rate gap closes, a sustained stronger yen is hard," and "a forced rate hike would rebound onto growth and mortgages."
  • Jabs at U.S. pressure and the bilateral dynamic — Mockery of a power dynamic in which Trump "grovels to Xi but orders Takaichi to stop the weak yen."

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

Trump's weak-yen complaint and Takaichi's "undervaluation" remark

The summit's currency exchange set off confusion over a possible policy reversal and sober talk about the rate gap.

Sources: JIJI.COM, 2ch

Comments:

  • "Takaichi-worshipping net-rightists: 'A weak yen is the national interest! Beggar-thy-neighbor kills China and Korea lol!' ...Huh?"
  • "Cheap! So chee-eap!"
  • "From 'the weak yen is a windfall' to a 1-trillion-yen trade deficit, lol. Are we making money or not — which is it? lol"
  • "The net-rightists and [economist] Yoichi Takahashi, left hanging out to dry, lol."
  • "Undervalued? I'd say it's about right."
  • "With this weak yen, all that's happened is loan rates went up."
  • "Maybe it's a message that raising rates is okay."
  • "'The weak yen is a windfall' but 'the yen's undervaluation is a problem' — this person really doesn't understand what they're saying, do they."
  • "But Trump groveling to Xi Jinping while ordering Takaichi to stop the weak yen — he's gone from the Gian position to Suneo before we knew it." [Translator's note: Gian is the bully and Suneo his toady in the manga Doraemon.]
  • "They raised rates from 1 to 1.25 the other day, right? And America hiked 0.25 too. If we'd gone to 1.5, wouldn't the yen have strengthened?"
  • "If a forced rate hike causes a recession, it's the people at the bottom who are already struggling who get fired first."
  • "You sold your dollars nicely and made a killing, didn't you."
  • "No matter who becomes PM, the weak yen won't change — not even under the nightmare DPJ government."
  • "'The yen's undervaluation is a problem' — well, our rates are worse than other currencies', so it can't be helped."
  • "Unless America cuts its rates, there's nothing Japan can do anymore."