The government's top spokesman tried to talk down the dollar's exchange rate Jan. 24 by saying he is "convinced" that the yen will go no lower than 120 to the dollar."There has been a shared view within both political and economic circles that the (appropriate) yen-dollar range is around 110 yen, and the tolerable limit is 120 yen," Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama said in an unusually long comment during a regular news conference. He added that he "feels that the yen has hit the lowest limit.""There is a concern among the American economic circle that a further rise of the dollar will surge U.S. imports from other countries and thereby hurt domestic industries," Kajiyama said. "If this concern and Japan's current trade structure are taken into consideration, I am convinced that (the yen) will not make a nosedive from the 120 level."
