Bloomberg Business recently reported that the Bank of Japan has adopted negative interest rates saying, “Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda sprung another surprise on investors Friday, adopting a negative interest-rate strategy to spur banks to lend in the face of a weakening economy.”

Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Charlie Munger was quoted by Forbes saying, “I was flabbergasted when they went low; when they went negative in Europe – I’m really flabbergasted.”

According to CNN Money, “In theory, negative rates encourage banks to lend more and consumers to spend rather than save. They can also weaken a country’s currency, helping exporters.”

Japan isn’t the first to do this. The European Central Bank has already made this move with odd results. There have been reported cases where the bank ends up paying customers who borrow from them.

The idea of negative interest rates has been introduced to the U.S. but thus far, it’s not been seriously considered.