The government of Japan continued on Thursday to pressure the country's central bank to reduce interest rates even further than the current historic low of 1%. Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan said a weaker currency is "favorable" and he expressed satisfaction that the yen has fallen back from a 14-year high against the dollar. "There was concern about the damage that would be inflicted on exporters when the yen was rising," Kan insisted. Although the government has launched a massive economic stimulus effort, the Bank of Japan has refused to cut interest rates further, although it has agreed to maintain some quantitative easing policies. The Japanese government is concerned about deflation, which was the main factor that led to economic decline in the 1990s, the so-called 'lost decade' for the country.

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