In the past, the government and the Bank of Japan have directly intervened in foreign exchange markets by selling or buying yen when there have been excessive movements in the yen's value.
However, the government is cautious about intervening during a weakening phase due to a poor track record of yen-buying and dollar-selling, raising questions about the effectiveness of an intervention.
When the yen weakened to about 133 yen to the dollar in April 1998, the government and the central bank embarked on a yen-buying, dollar-selling spree.
