The Bank of Japan is not going to start a currency war. No sir. New Governor Haruhiko Kuroda used his first press conference Thursday to effectively rule out central-bank purchases of foreign bonds, a move mooted by prime minister Shinzo Abe as a way to pull the country out of its deflationary trap. In fact, Kuroda may not need to buy foreign bonds: Japanese investors may do the job for him.

Japanese investors are no stranger to very low bond yields. But the 10-year Japanese government bond yield hit just 0.56% Friday, a near-decade low, amid expectations that the BOJ will significantly ramp up its domestic bond-buying as it strives to reach its new 2% inflation target. Kuroda said there was a need to buy longer-term assets to drive yields down across the curve.