Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday. | BLOOMBERG
Aug 6, 2026
Joint U.S.-Japan intervention has supported the yen for now, but isn’t a game-changer for the currency or the economy, former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, touting a ¥370 trillion ($2.3 trillion) growth strategy as the long-term vision that will transform Japan’s fortunes.
“In terms of the currency, it could buy some time, but it could end up doing no more than that unless the fundamental economic situation and the broader environment changes,” Kishida said in an interview Wednesday. The U.S. and Japan announced on Monday that they had stepped into the currency market on Friday to prop up the yen.
Kishida is chief of a ruling party group that provided advice to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on drawing up the 14-year growth strategy covering 17 strategic areas. He brushed aside concerns over how it will be funded and pointed to Japan’s nascent semiconductor and AI industries as examples of how the economy could grow at an accelerated pace.
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