Japan held to a downbeat economic assessment in its monthly report today.
"The economy continues to deteriorate," the government's December economic report said. That assessment was unchanged from the previous month's, and the report pinned Japan's hopes on an export-led recovery.
A key official appeared to give a green light to a weaker yen to help bolster struggling exporters and rekindle growth.
The yen plumbed three-year lows against the dollar and two-year lows against the euro, taking cue from remarks by Japan's top financial diplomat, Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, who said the currency's recent decline had been rapid but not worrying.
The Bank of Japan, which begins a two-day policy meeting tomorrow, has pushed interest rates to near zero and has little room for further monetary easing, while the government's fiscal policy is limited by a mountain of public debt.
With such policy constraints in mind, the currency market has been pummelling the yen lower in recent weeks - and the Japanese government appears to be giving tacit approval to the drop.