Japanese former top FX diplomat Furusawa says BoJ likely wants to eventually raise rates to around 1.50%-1.75%, adds Japan and the US could intervene again if yen returns to levels hit before their joint action

Comments from former FX diplomats are a familiar channel in Japan for floating views the ministry cannot yet own, and markets have historically treated them as directional rather than authoritative, since the source no longer sits in the room. The terminal-rate framing is the more durable element: when former officials put numbers around the end-point of a tightening cycle, the read-through is to the belly and back end of the JGB curve and to the neutral-rate debate, rather than to the timing of the next hike. The intervention remark follows the established pattern of jawboning: verbal references to joint action have tended to resurface whenever the yen approaches levels that previously triggered actual operations, and the explicit mention of US participation is the distinction that matters, since coordinated intervention has historically carried more weight than unilateral rounds and is rarer. Coordination typically requires dollar-side acquiescence, which makes Treasury posture the tell rather than anything said in Tokyo. Worth noting is the sequencing precedent: in past episodes, escalating rhetoric from serving officials has preceded any actual orders, so commentary from a former official sits at the low end of the escalation ladder.