The Bank of Japan has held an emergency meeting amid growing concern about the surging value of the yen.
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.
Analysts fear the rising currency is undermining the countrys 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 of its fixed 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 the current three-month operation.
The BBCs Tokyo correspondent Roland Buerk says that the banks 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 mired in deflation.
Falling prices make the cost of borrowing higher in real terms.
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