The Yen has lost 7% of it's versus the dollar so far this year; hits 34 year low

See Yen Intervention Risk Is Rising, but Effects Could Be Short-Lived by Ronnie Harui of The WSJ.

When I taught exchange rates, one factor that caused them to change was interest rates. If interest rates rise in country A (say, on government bonds), people in country B will try to buy more of country A's currency so they can buy more of those bonds to get a better rate of return.

The increased demand for A's currency raises it's value and that means it falls for country B. The article seems to be suggesting this for the Yen right now.

Excerpts:

"the yen weakened to 34-year lows against the dollar."

"Japan’s currency has weakened 7.0% versus the dollar so far this year, making it the worst performer among major Asian currencies. In Tuesday’s Asian session, the dollar was little changed at Y151.61 after touching Y151.97 last week—the highest intraday level since 1990—even as the

Bank of Japan

ended its negative-interest-rate policy after eight years and unwound most of its unorthodox monetary easing policies."

"The rate spread between Japan and the U.S. remains wide. At their March meetings, the Fed kept its target range for the federal-funds rate at 5.25% to 5.50%, while the Bank of Japan removed its negative policy rate of minus 0.1% and set a new short-term rate target range of 0% to 0.1%.

“If U.S. rates do not retreat significantly from current levels, USD/JPY is likely to rebound relatively quickly from any intervention now,” Tan of RBC Capital Markets said. “I suspect that USD/JPY will remain above 145 in an intervention at this time.”"

This graph shows how the value of the Yen has changed over time. The more Yen it takes to buy one UI.S.dollar, the lower it's (the Yen) value.

From The St. Louis Fed.

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Higher U.S. interest rates recently helped fuel a surprise rally in the dollar  (2018)

Dollar’s Resurgence Is a Headache for the Rest of the World  (2023)