The rejection close to 145.00 this week has been a key point to note for the dollar and the sharp retreat in USD/JPY has also seen other major currencies take advantage of the softer greenback towards the end of the week. The added jawboning by Japanese officials earlier in the day here is also helping, with Kuroda outlining that when the pair moves by 200 to 300 pips, then it can be considered a 'rapid' move. That said, I'll bet he has no complaints about the 200 pips retracement today.
On the balance of things, I'd still argue that Japanese officials are still fine with a falling currency. I mean they know that they are not in a spot to contest otherwise with the BOJ still maintaining an ultra easy monetary policy at the moment. But they are just trying to curb any sudden depreciation and with a rise in USD/JPY from 140.50 to 145.00 within a few days, they saw the need to keep things in check before traders got too carried away.
Looking at the chart above, the drop sees a break back below the 100-hour moving average (red line) at 142.81 and now price action is caught in between that and the 200-hour moving average (blue line) at 141.10. That sees the near-term bias more neutral and outlines the technical levels in play in the short-term.
Further support is seen closer to the 140.00 handle while key resistance remains at the 145.00 handle in the bigger picture.
But for now, the retreat is still keeping more measured within the levels above as it moves in tandem with the dollar decline seen elsewhere as pointed out earlier:
