Japan Spent Billions Trying to Prop Up Its Currency. It Didn't Work.

Japan's government spent heavily buying yen in 2026 but failed to stop it falling to 159 per dollar—a weakness driven by deeper economics, not a money shortage. The yen keeps weakening because interest rates in Japan sit near zero while US and European rates are much higher. Money naturally flows toward better returns. No amount of government spending fixes that gap; only raising Japan's own rates would.