The yen is too weak and is squeezing many companies with higher import costs, according to Taro Kono, a lawmaker in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party.
Parts makers for large corporations are being particularly hard hit, said Kono, 52, who worked for a supplier to exporters including Toyota Motor Corp. for three years before he entered the Diet in 1996.
While large companies selling products abroad benefit from the currency's depreciation as the value of earnings overseas rise when they are repatriated in yen, domestic suppliers pay higher prices and have seen little growth in sales, he said.