For decades in global financial markets, one Japanese government official you could say with certainty most traders knew by name was the vice finance minister for international affairs.
That’s because this senior official would regularly sound off about exchange rates, often moving markets. One vice finance minister in the 1990s, Eisuke Sakakibara, became so well known that he was given the nickname “Mr. Yen.” The vice finance chief still does weigh in on currencies — Atsushi Mimura, the current occupant of the post, did so on Nov. 5. But, in a reflection of how the world has changed in recent years, the job has become dramatically different.