Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters he would respond appropriately as needed, an expression he has not previously used in his campaign to talk the currency down.
Noda was to meet Prime Minister Naoto Kan and other ministers later. Market investors, however, were skeptical whether intervention alone would do much to encourage a rise that took the JPY to a 15-year peak versus the dollar and a nine-year high against the EUR on Tuesday, battering share prices in turn.