The Japanese and U.S. finance chiefs agreed Thursday that volatile movements in foreign exchange markets are undesirable in the wake of the recent fall of the yen's value against the dollar to a 12½-year low.
Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew that they reaffirmed an agreement shared among the Group of Seven countries that takes a dim view of any rapid movements in foreign exchange markets.
"We regard the recent yen's depreciation as rough moves," Aso said, referring to the drop of the yen against the dollar to a level unseen since December 2002. "We'll continue carefully monitoring market movements."