Comments reported from Joseph Kraft, CEO at Rorschach Advisory and former managing director at Morgan Stanley

  • "I've noticed that this government is sensitive to a yen depreciation,"
  • Kraft argued that members of the Kishida government remember a sharp drop in support for Abe between 2014-15 when the yen depreciated from around 100 against the dollar to 120, hitting consumers' purchasing power. Inflation may not have been the only reason, but "when you think about the coming upper house election, you want to keep inflation under control," Kraft said at the Japan National Press Club.
  • Kraft thinks crude oil prices approaching 10,000 yen per barrel for the first time since 2014 are a warning signal.

The piece in the Nikkei may be gated but if you can access it its worth a read.

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Japan's upper house is the House of Councillors. Elections will be held by 25 July 2022 to elect 124 of the 245 members.

Above 116 is set up as resistance for USD/JPY:

usdyen chart 24 January 2022