Japanese yen takes a deliberate dive to keep things turning

Big business will not invest in extra production without assurance that the yen will stay low for the time being

Japan's exporters need all the help they can get - 25 years of stagnation have taken their toll. So a drive to push down the value of the yen, making it easier to export, can be expected to raise a cheer in the sake bars of Kyoto.

And that's just what the Bank of Japan did when it imposed a 0.1% charge on deposits. It's not the official policy objective - fighting inflation is. Conversely, the central bank emphasises the negative impact on saving and therefore the incentive for corporates to spend their large cash piles.