Reply #3: I can see some reasons to back this story up

[customerserviceguy]

If the Japanese Government were to openly sell this dollar volume worth of bonds, it would lead to staggering losses as the price of other US Treasury securities went down in value. That would be harmful both to the Japanese Government (which would still be holding a lot of our bonds) and to the eventual buyer of these bonds, who may well be getting a discount on them, but doesn't want that known.

I'll be watching this story closely to see what happens. I wouldn't put it past Geithner to pass off a phony "counterfeiting" story as a way to allow the Japanese to save face in this situation.