As I look at my windows 7 gadget, the Yen is currently 82.102 to the Dollar. What the hell man! Three years ago I was getting 120 for my greenback, and now I can't even play a round of street fighter for a buck!

What are we gaijin supposed to do? I am planning on going to college here but, god damn, it's going to cost me 38% more money then it would have 3 years back. Of course the school I want to go to is already considered expensive. I may just have to pack my bags.

I know we are in a world of shit right now, but can someone (lie) tell to me when we can expect a little bit cheaper Yen? I read that this is supposed to be some kind of financial world meeting this weekend (<---- doesn't read the news often so be impressed) that will hopefully come to some kind of conclusion about this situation.

I can't imagine how a tiny export based country like Japan can survive with these prices. If you go to Bestbuy in America, most the products in the store have some kind of Japanese origin, these companies are going to be screwed!

Someone smarter than I, (AKA everyone on this board) please explain to me what you think about these dark times.

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:I can't imagine how a tiny export based country like Japan can survive with these prices.

Japan isn't tiny, population of 128,000,000! Anyway, I think it's a great think the 円 is becoming strong. As are other currencies worldwide. Things will hopefully shift like this for a while.

vinniram Wrote:

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:I can't imagine how a tiny export based country like Japan can survive with these prices.

Japan isn't tiny, population of 128,000,000! Anyway, I think it's a great think the 円 is becoming strong. As are other currencies worldwide. Things will hopefully shift like this for a while.

You know this hurts Japan badly right?

I think this strong yen is more to do with a weak dollar. Japan has already taken action to try and reverse the trend and I think you'll see things change around after next months election in the US.

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:Three years ago I was getting 120 for my greenback, and now I can't even play a round of street fighter for a buck!

You were there at exactly the right time. The dollar has been on a steady decline since:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=U...PY&view=5Y

Over the same period of time the GB Pound has almost halved in value:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=G...PY&view=5Y

Since mid-2008 the Euro has also plummeted:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=E...PY&view=5Y

Womacks23 Wrote:

vinniram Wrote:

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:I can't imagine how a tiny export based country like Japan can survive with these prices.

Japan isn't tiny, population of 128,000,000! Anyway, I think it's a great think the 円 is becoming strong. As are other currencies worldwide. Things will hopefully shift like this for a while.

You know this hurts Japan badly right?

I think this strong yen is more to do with a weak dollar. Japan has already taken action to try and reverse the trend and I think you'll see things change around after next months election in the US.

To tell the truth I don't understand economics very well. Could you explain why it's such a bad thing for Japan? I'm just used to always feeling happy when the AUD goes up compared to USD because things become cheaper to buy, so I'm unsure why it's such a bad thing.

Wouldn't that make Japanese cars very expensive for Americans?
The largest industry in Japan is automobiles.

ahh, I understand now. Thanks for explaining that. This is a guess, but doesn't Japan have to import lots of things, especially raw materials like metals, ore etc. from countries like China and Australia? And it's these raw materials which really fuel the automobile industry. So maybe the difficulty in exporting is balanced by cheaper imports? This is just me thinking off the top of my head, but logically that makes sense to me.

Last time I checked Japan had a trade surplus with just about every country on this planet except e.g. Indonesia (Oil), so a strong Yen is most likely never good news for Japan.

vinniram Wrote:ahh, I understand now. Thanks for explaining that. This is a guess, but doesn't Japan have to import lots of things, especially raw materials like metals, ore etc. from countries like China and Australia? And it's these raw materials which really fuel the automobile industry. So maybe the difficulty in exporting is balanced by cheaper imports? This is just me thinking off the top of my head, but logically that makes sense to me.

The drop in the price of raw materials doesn't always balance with the rise in the price of exports...yea it's really complicated.

Anyway, the Bank of Japan is freaking out right now.

Evil_Dragon Wrote:Last time I checked Japan had a trade surplus with just about every country on this planet except e.g. Indonesia (Oil), so a strong Yen is most likely never good news for Japan.

A strong yen is basically a kick in the balls for Japan but I think a bigger problem over the long term is Japan gradually losing its competitive edge. Despite the formally cheap yen, Japan's share of exports by high-income countries has steadily declined from its peak of 13.5% in 1986 to 8.4% in 2007. Japanese firms have also been losing market share in some key leading edge products. A country that needs a cheap currency to boost exports and still keeps losing market share is in bad shape. Going back to a weak yen is just a band-aid treatment.

Not to mention all the money I'll lose

2 years ago it was about 200 yen to the £.. now it sits at 130.. and I just happen to be living here this year Fruit is just so damned expensive, food in general isn't too bad, but my accommodation costs are way more than they should be. I need it crash soon, so I have money to do shit and not just survive for this semester.

Gingerninja Wrote:2 years ago it was about 200 yen to the £.. now it sits at 130.. and I just happen to be living here this year Fruit is just so damned expensive, food in general isn't too bad, but my accommodation costs are way more than they should be. I need it crash soon, so I have money to do shit and not just survive for this semester.

I know how you feel. You can't go out expect MAYBE once a month, and when you do it has be like Sukiya or something ridiculously cheap. If I didn't live in a guest house with my GF then I think I'd never see another person outside of school.

I wish I had could have sent a letter to my grandparents back in the 70s (I think?) when it was 300+ yen to the dollar, tell them to put a million bucks in yen.

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:I wish I had could have sent a letter to my grandparents back in the 70s (I think?) when it was 300+ yen to the dollar, tell them to put a million bucks in yen.

If I were your grandparents I'd be pissed off that you couldn't come up with a better benefit-of-hindsight investment strategy than that :-) Tell them to buy shares in Microsoft or something instead...

pm215 Wrote:

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:I wish I had could have sent a letter to my grandparents back in the 70s (I think?) when it was 300+ yen to the dollar, tell them to put a million bucks in yen.

If I were your grandparents I'd be pissed off that you couldn't come up with a better benefit-of-hindsight investment strategy than that :-) Tell them to buy shares in Microsoft or something instead...

Or Google! Just imagine...

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:

pm215 Wrote:

Cheesemaster64 Wrote:I wish I had could have sent a letter to my grandparents back in the 70s (I think?) when it was 300+ yen to the dollar, tell them to put a million bucks in yen.

If I were your grandparents I'd be pissed off that you couldn't come up with a better benefit-of-hindsight investment strategy than that :-) Tell them to buy shares in Microsoft or something instead...

Or Google! Just imagine...

I think I read an article once somewhere talking about how instead of buying the first generation iMacs, if put your $2,000 into apple stock, it would be worth $250,000+....