Japan LLC’s FX book sits amid a weak yen that lifts US Treasury yields. The Ministry of Finance’s intervention alone can’t stop the rot, a point echoed by former President Donald Trump’s remarks that “financial benefit” motivates policy.

Before the Ministry began buying yen, it spent decades selling it, driving a soaring value that hampered Japan’s fight against deflation. The Abenomics pivot in 2012 flipped the script, delivering sustained yen weakness that helped exporters and fed the government’s trading book.

The Ministry’s FX book P&L has ballooned to around $345bn, up from roughly $340bn earlier this year. Transfers to the General Account average three‑quarters of the portfolio’s positive carry, and the book now sits alongside the Bank of Japan equity pod, a rates pod, and the public pension pod.

Economist Yi Li Chien estimates these pods have earned Japan an extra 6 % of GDP per annum over the past decade. Trump’s appointment of a currency hedge‑fund manager to the Treasury only fuels speculation, while Scott Bessent hopes to remain unbenchmarked against the sovereign trader’s legacy.