Currency Matters

After quite a few weeks you may get used to using a new currency. It takes time to stop thinking about what the value is in relation to your home currency and whether it is cheap or expensive.
(Trying to think about prices in relation to your salary is a better strategy)

Many people live their lives using money conversions and miss out on a lot of good stuff. If you don’t eat fruit because it is more expensive than home, then you will probably leave Japan with scurvy, rickets or some other medieval disease.

So that was the bad news. For the good news, a lot of things in Japan are much cheaper than at home, remember that living expenses and taxes are probably better than at home too.

Many bars do all you can drink beer for 2 hours or more, and every supermarket has offers on different days so you don’t need to worry about the price of Kobe beef; there are tonnes of good alternatives.

Until you get used to the Japanese Yen, or if you just want to know what a loaf of bread will cost – check out the items below for some pointers.

Use this link to find out the most up to date values of your home currency. You can change the amount of yen and the type of currency to convert it to:

XE.com Currency Assistant

(Your browser needs to have pop-ups enabled to view this link as it appears as a pop-up window. If a blank page with a cream “blocked pop-up” or “????????????????” bar appears – click the bar and select temporarily allow pop-ups “?????????????(T)” – the blank page should disappear and the currency converter should open in a small window)

Prices quoted are rough guides only and don’t show the cheapest possible bargains.

Product
Value in Yen
XE.com Converter

Loaf of bread
170
XE

Litre of milk
200
XE

Can of beer from supermarket(350ml)
200
XE

Glass of Beer (450ml)
500
XE

McDonald’s Meal
525
XE

Bowl of ramen noodles
600
XE

Onsen ticket
600
XE

Minimum taxi fare
600
XE

Cinema ticket (non-discount)
1,800
XE

Music CD from Tower Records
1,890
XE

90 minutes all you can eat and drink offer
3,500
XE

1 litre of petrol (at time of writing)
135
XE

1 hour train from Kokura (Kitakyushu) to Hakata
1,250
XE

17 minute Shinkansen train from Kokura to Hakata
2,050
XE

Return hydrofoil to Pusan
24,000
XE

Return flight – Fukuoka to Tokyo
30,000
XE

1 month’s broadband internet access
4,000
XE

Cheapest DELL Desktop PC (Dimension 9200C)
77,000
XE

1 month’s JET salary
300,000
XE

If you would like to have more price ideas, please send suggestions via the contact us