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Japanese yen weakens to 160 against the USD for the first time since 1990
- sandspar 2y agoIn other words it's both the best time to take a vacation to Japan and the worst time. Pros: a cheap country is even cheaper. Cons: hordes upon hordes upon hordes of tourists. I don't envy the Japanese right now.
- pkulak 2y agoI don’t care about crowds. I need to visit Japan before I die. Maybe now is the time. I’m a huge train/transit nerd, and every year I don’t, I lose credibility.
- sandspar 2y agoUnrelated to Japan, but what's the reputation of train simming video games among train nerds? Are train sims deemed realistic? Also the trains would be crowded right now. Maybe an interesting experience, since it's a once in a lifetime chance to see how their scheduling handles massive, unexpected crowds.
- hilux 2y agoWhat are you waiting for? Be sure to visit the amazing museums in Nagoya and Osaka.
- pkulak 2y agoOff topic, but why would people downvote this? I say a lot of dumb shit, but this really seemed uncontroversial. Uninteresting, I suppose.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> this really seemed uncontroversial Didn't downvote. But reducing an entire country, particularly within the context of their currency crashing, to a motive like credibility among a niche group might come across to some as limited.
- konart 2y ago>But reducing an entire country Nobody is reducing an entire country though. Reducing personal goals and interests - sure. This thas nothing to do with the country in question.
- throwaway4good 2y agoThe hotel prices in Tokyo are higher than I have ever seen them.
- darknavi 2y agoWas there for the cherry blossoms this year. TONS of people, but getting off of the super tourist path was pretty easy, even in Kyoto. Cheap food, cheap drinks, not cheap lodging. Was a blast.
- mindwok 2y agoWas there last week, third time visiting. Still had an incredible time, but hotels were pricy and almost everything was booked out, hotels and popular restaurants + attractions, about a month ahead of time. If you go I'd recommend not doing it spontaneously!
- nixass 2y agoWhy would you need restaurant reservations in a country like Japan where there's interesting restaurant at literally every other door step?
- jdshaffer 2y agoThe really good restaurants, even small joints, are full all the time, even without tourists. So, if you want a really excellent meal, be prepared to wait, or find a place where you can make reservations. :-)
- nixass 2y agoLike the OP I was also in Japan this momth for the third time (first time in 2017), visited 4 major cities and few more towns. Never ever had I book a restaurant to eat good good. Yes, there were places that were packed but there was even more places that weren't and still had excellent food. It's just being spoiled and going after google maps reviews/ratings at this point and not really enjoying the place.
- mindwok 2y agoIf you wanna try Omakase or Kaiseki for example. Even places that were just well reviewed I found were often booked out.
- dzhiurgis 2y agoBook Ryokan that offers one (it's a must anyway), but as you said - likely hard at this time of year.
- 2y ago
- throwaway4good 2y agoFun tip: Checkout Japanese Twitter for people complaining over tourists ...
- donw 2y agoTokyo Disneyland two weeks ago was an absolute circus in the middle of the week.
- RomanAlexander 2y agoI just flew out right before golden week started. there's a lot more tourists from countries I hadn't seen represented before 2020.
- marak830 2y agoThose of us who love and work here are groaning at the ideas of flocks of tourists xD. They are great for the economy, but we get grouped in with them (and the outliers with bad behaviour), so once again, when tourist season is over, we have to deal with the frustration everyone has felt. It's not as bad as all that though, most of us know not to go out during peak tourist season though.
- ArtTimeInvestor 2y agoThe value of a country's currency = How much stuff it produces / How much money it prints. Both, Japan and the US are increasing their monetary base by what, 10% per year? Don't know about the productivity of Japan, but the US still seems on top of its game. Software and datacenters are the most important resource of the future. And so far the US is leading the way. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia ... all in the US. The US is also the world's leading country when it comes to Bitcoin mining.
- FpUser 2y ago>"Software and datacenters are the most important resource of the future." I think food and shelter are primal. Anything bad happens and software along with datacenters matter no more.
- ArtTimeInvestor 2y agoPrimal does not mean valuable. You personally can value the bakery next door higher than Microsoft, because "Hey, I can eat bread but I can't eat software". But the market will not agree with you.
- throwaway290 2y agoOnly the market in a relatively stable world.
- ArtTimeInvestor 2y agoIn this world. The world we live in.
- throwaway290 2y agoWhile there is a power interested in this stability stronger than powers that would like to undermine it, sure
- 2y ago
- throwaway4good 2y agoThis also makes a Chinese devaluation much more likelier (the Chinese peg their currency towards the USD). Would for sure be interpreted negatively in the west.
- mupuff1234 2y agoAaand it's gone. 155 now.
- karaokeyoga 2y agoDo we know what news prompted this?
- ammo1662 2y agoit seems 160 is a trigger for BOJ to intervene https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/yens-slide-toward-160-level-could-trigger-action-says-senior-ruling-party-2024-04-24/ https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/yens-slide-toward-160-l...
- jdshaffer 2y agoLiving in Japan for the last 25 years or so, I with the BOJ would have a bit of a lower trigger. The weak yen is not very fun to live with at the moment...
- tanh 2y agoI live in Japan and get paid in a different currency. Changing jobs feels out of the question now.
- hilux 2y agoFood must feel incredibly cheap! Onigiri under a dollar?
- andrekandre 2y agoits not only that the yen is dropping in value like a rock, but the double-punch of recently doubling (in 2 steps) of the sales tax from 5% to 10% is really making hard on things (e.g iphone is ridiculously expense now, just as one example [1])... it doesn't seem like anyone has a solid plan to fix these issues.... [1] https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000006.000053691.html https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000006.000053691.html (you dont have to read japanese to understand the chart)
- gjjydfhgd 2y agoPeople have been talking about this mythical yen weakening for 35 years now. It's called the widow-maker trade (I know, technically it's about the bonds not the currency)
- VelesDude 2y agoBoth Japan and China's economy has going to implode worse than anyone else for the last 20-30 years. Q. What do you call an economist that makes a prediction? A. Wrong.
- maxglute 2y agoReal GDP 75% of what it was in 2021. 60% of 2021 peak. How does it feel on the ground except tourists and record Uniqlo profits? Edit: in usd
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Real GDP 75% of what it was in 2021. 60% of 2021 peak Not quite [1]. [1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JPNRGDPEXP https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JPNRGDPEXP
- maxglute 2y agoTypo. I meant dollar gdp.