Japan increasingly needs a weaker yen to counter falling foreign demand and increased competitive pressures.

There are a number of countries that are increasingly uneasy about competitive pressures coming from Asia, and the softening of domestic industry.

We are disappointed that the MPC felt unable to take action to counter the adverse pressures affecting the economy.

In the end, SAP did come back with a counteroffer that was a very close, competitive counter, but we [had] already made our decision. They were not as competitive as they could have been in the initial rounds.

There appears to be an acceptance of a weaker dollar trend even if Europe and Japan are not happy with it. The Americans are probably only too happy to see the dollar depreciate.

Japanese individual investors continue to shun risk, and the notion of putting money into foreign assets is repugnant.