The United States joined Japan in a rare currency intervention to defend the yen on August 1, its first joint yen-buying action since 2011. Yet Tokyo is demanding it stop using Mario, Pokémon, and Naruto in government memes.
At the same time the United States has taken significant steps to support Japan’s currency, Japan’s government continues to raise concerns about copyright infringement, pressing Washington over its unauthorized use of it’s beloved intellectual property in official social media posts.
Washington Steps in for the Yen
The yen had slumped to roughly 163.7 per dollar, its weakest level in about four decades, before the joint action pushed it back toward 155. President Donald Trump framed the coordinated currency intervention as a gesture of goodwill rather than a policy shift.
“They have a weakening yen, and they wanted a little bit of help. And we’re always there for Japan.”
Trump, Al Jazeera
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed the US bought yen alongside Japan’s Ministry of Finance, adding that Washington backs Tokyo’s push to correct what officials call an undervalued currency. The last time the US intervened on the yen’s behalf was 1998.
Tokyo’s Other Complaint
While that cooperation played out smoothly, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has kept pressing a separate grievance. Officials say the US government has repeatedly used Nintendo, Pokémon, and Naruto characters in social media memes and videos without permission, including clips mixing game footage with military content.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry has said doing so is inappropriate even for public institutions, arguing rights holders’ consent matters regardless of who is posting. The complaints have run through diplomatic channels since March, with officials citing a March clip that placed Nintendo Wii imagery alongside images of strikes in Iran, on the official White House account on X.
The Pokémon Company has previously denied granting permission for its characters to appear in government content, and the issue has drawn attention from Japanese lawmakers and a fan-led petition that gathered international coverage.
Whether the yen cooperation extends any goodwill to the intellectual-property dispute remains unclear. The two governments have shown they can coordinate quickly on currency markets. So far, that coordination hasn’t carried over to Mario.
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