On October 7, 2026, Japan's Ministry of Finance published a table it puts out every month: the country's international reserves at the end of September. The first sentence gives the total. Japan's reserve assets: $1,178,396 million. The page counts in millions of US dollars, so, by our conversion, that is about $1.178 trillion.
We are going to read that table, line by line. This is not investment advice, and we take no view on whether any of this is good or bad. We are translating a government document. The Ministry also publishes an English version of this page, and we use its terms.
The first sentence
In the original: 令和8年9月末における我が国の外貨準備高は、1,178,396百万ドルとなり、令和8年8月末と比べ、29,128百万ドル減少した。 In the Ministry's own English: "Japan's reserve assets totaled $ 1,178,396 million as of the end of September 2026, down $ 29,128 million from the end of August."
- Reserve assets, end of September 2026: $1,178,396 million
- Change from the end of August: down $29,128 million, that is $29.128 billion
This page does not print the August level. The Ministry's page for the end of August, published on September 7, 2026, does: $1,207,524 million, about $1.2075 trillion. By our arithmetic, that figure less the fall is this month's total (1,207,524 − 29,128 = 1,178,396). The page prints the fall. It does not say why.
Official reserve assets: 5 lines
Section I, part A, is headed "Official reserve assets" (外貨準備). Under it are 5 numbered lines, in millions of US dollars.
- (1) Foreign currency reserves: 976,913
- (2) IMF reserve position: 11,344
- (3) SDRs (special drawing rights): 60,783
- (4) Gold: 113,592
- (5) Other reserve assets: 15,764
By our arithmetic, those 5 lines add up to the total in the first sentence: 976,913 + 11,344 + 60,783 + 113,592 + 15,764 = 1,178,396.
Securities and deposits
The first line, foreign currency reserves, is split in two.
- (a) Securities: $821,691 million. One sub-line, "of which: issuer headquartered in Japan", shows a dash.
- (b) Deposits: $155,222 million
Deposits are split three ways.
- Foreign central banks and BIS (the Bank for International Settlements): $154,794 million
- Banks headquartered in Japan: $403 million
- Banks headquartered outside Japan: $25 million, all of it under "of which: located in Japan"
The page prints amounts, not shares. The following shares are our arithmetic, each line divided by the total of 1,178,396 and rounded to 1 decimal place. None of them is printed on the page.
- Securities: about 69.7%
- Deposits: about 13.2%
- Gold: about 9.6%
- SDRs: about 5.2%
- Other reserve assets: about 1.3%
- IMF reserve position: about 1.0%
Gold
Gold has a second line beneath it, in brackets: "volume [in million fine troy ounces]", 27.20. A note says: "Securities and gold reflect marked to market values."
So the page gives gold twice: a value of $113,592 million and a weight of 27.20 million fine troy ounces. It does not print a price for each ounce, and we do not work one out.
Other foreign currency assets
Part B is a separate line from part A, and it is not inside the total above. "Other foreign currency assets": $35,110 million. A reference line under it says that, of this, loans to the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) come to $34,817 million. The Japanese page adds one word in brackets that the English page leaves out: 額面, face value.
Sections II and III
Section II is headed "Predetermined short-term net drains on foreign currency assets". Figures appear under one item only: forwards and futures in foreign currencies against the yen. All of it is long positions.
- Long positions: $20,000 million. By residual maturity: 6,000 up to 1 month, 5,000 from 1 to 3 months, 9,000 from 3 months to 1 year.
- Short positions: a dash
Section III covers contingent drains. Again one item has figures.
- Collateral guarantees on debt falling due within 1 year: -11,150 (in millions of US dollars). By residual maturity: -1,400 up to 1 month, -1,800 from 1 to 3 months, -7,950 from 3 months to 1 year.
A note on the Japanese page says that, following the IMF's guidelines, liabilities in this section are written with a minus sign.
The notes
The notes say what the table covers: "the monetary authorities and other central government, excluding social security". They also say: "Current market exchange rates are used for valuation of non-US dollar denominated assets/liabilities."
The Ministry's index page says the balance at each month's end is published early in the following month. It lists the next release, for the end of October 2026, between November 1 and 9, 2026.
What the page does not say
Three things this page does not tell you, and so we will not either.
- It does not say why the total fell.
- It does not say which securities are held, or in which currencies.
- It does not say how much of any change comes from prices or exchange rates, and how much from transactions.
What it does say is this. At the end of September 2026, Japan's official reserve assets were $1,178,396 million, down $29,128 million from the end of August. Securities were $821,691 million. Deposits were $155,222 million. Gold was $113,592 million, at a weight of 27.20 million fine troy ounces.
The Ministry publishes this table every month. We will read it again.
Source
Ministry of Finance, Japan — 外貨準備等の状況（令和8年9月末現在）, October 7, 2026: https://www.mof.go.jp/policy/international_policy/reference/official_reserve_assets/data/0809.html
The Ministry's page for the end of August 2026, September 7, 2026 (source of the end-of-August level): https://www.mof.go.jp/policy/international_policy/reference/official_reserve_assets/data/0808.html
The Ministry's English version of the same page, International Reserves/Foreign Currency Liquidity (as of the end of September 2026): https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/international_policy/reference/official_reserve_assets/e0809.html
All amounts are as printed, in millions of US dollars. The shares of the total are LeakSquare's arithmetic and are not printed on the page; amounts in billions or trillions are our conversion of the printed millions. The end-of-August level ($1,207,524 million) is printed on the Ministry's page for the end of August, not on this one. This is a reading of a public document. It is not investment advice and makes no recommendation to buy or sell any security.