I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but it seems unprecedented, and perhaps an indicator of global economic weakness. Certainly seems like an indicator of Japan weakness, otherwise they would have done it themselves...no???

Anybody here know more about this than I do?

We are tightly connected with Japan. If they melt down, it is going to hurt us too.

Japan’s oil stocks are running very low, which is making investors even more jittery.


Link: This is pretty good

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I believe the only assets the Japanese could sell to prop up the yen would be US govt debt. If they did that, the US bond yields would go higher and the cost to the US to service its own debt would go up. Not good for the US.

So by selling Euros and buying yen, the US doesn't negatively affect the US bond market. The US is just swapping out one foreign currency for another without negatively impacting US bond yields. This is a better deal for the US. At least I think that's the strategy.

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overview of the situation...btw, we've been down this road before...and I've got a call into our family Economics and Business PhDs who lived and taught in Japan for several years...;-)