Large language models (LLMs) are now widely used in various fields, including finance. However, Japanese financial-specific LLMs have not been proposed yet. Hence, this study aims to construct a Japanese financial-specific LLM through continual pre-training. Before tuning, we constructed Japanese financial-focused datasets for continual pre-training. As a base model, we employed a Japanese LLM that achieved state-of-the-art performance on Japanese financial benchmarks among the 10-billion-class parameter models. After continual pre-training using the datasets and the base model, the tuned model performed better than the original model on the Japanese financial benchmarks. Moreover, the outputs comparison results reveal that the tuned model's outputs tend to be better than the original model's outputs in terms of the quality and length of the answers. These findings indicate that domain-specific continual pre-training is also effective for LLMs. The tuned model is publicly available on Hugging Face.

SoftBank Group Corp. and video game-makers are emerging as rare beneficiaries of the weaker yen, which no longer offers the clear advantage to Japan's corporate sector that it did a decade ago. Automakers and electronics-makers including Sony Group Corp. once welcomed a softer yen to bolster their competitiveness abroad and inflate the value of their repatriated profits. But after shifting production overseas in recent years to secure growth and resilient supply chains, many of them see a mixed -- or mostly neutral -- effect from the yen's free fall to 20-year lows, according to industry executives and analysts. For some consumer-facing companies, including Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing Co., the latest slump in the yen is a negative factor, exacerbating the impact of surging raw materials costs and higher energy prices amid Russia's war in Ukraine. "It's no longer the case that the weak yen benefits many firms in the manufacturing sector," Morningstar Research analyst Kazunori Ito said.

Tokyo stocks snapped their four-session losing streak on Tuesday as the yen weakened against the dollar. The Nikkei gained 323.74 points, or 1.94 percent, to close at 17,048.55. On Friday, it gave up 211.57 The market was closed on Monday for a national holiday. The Topix ended up 24.88 points, or 1.85 percent, at 1,369.93, after slumping 13.92 points the previous trading day.