The Bank of Japan has held an emergency meeting amid growing concern about the surging value of the yen¹.

出于对日元价值不断增长的担忧，日本中央银行举行了一次紧急会议。

The bank announced a number of measures, including making more money available to commercial banks so that they, in turn, would lend to Japanese businesses.

Analysts² fear the rising currency is undermining the country's fragile economic recovery.

A strong yen makes Japanese exports less competitive overseas.

A recent government survey suggested that many companies were considering moving production overseas if the yen remained strong.

The bank has expanded both the size and duration（持续） of its fixed³ low interest rate funding - increasing the volume of money available to 30 trillion yen ($351bn, £226 bn) from 20 trillion yen, and instituting a six-month fund alongside（在旁边） the current three-month operation.

The BBC's Tokyo correspondent Roland Buerk says that the bank's Governor, Masaaki Shirakawa returned from the United States a day earlier than planned to handle the currency crisis.

The yen has reached 15-year highs against the US dollar.

Our correspondent says that doubts persist about whether the latest measures will have much effect given that Japan is mired⁴（陷入困境） in deflation（通货紧缩） .

Falling prices make the cost of borrowing higher in real terms（扣除物价因素，按实质计算） .