Is the currency exchange rate for the US dollar favorable in Japan? -

I might travel to Japan and am wondering if my money will go very far or not?

The yen is always changing. Check this site for updates. www.xe.com

as a rule of thumb (or what i found to be a rule of thumb) 100 yen is the same a 1.00 dollar. the excange rate changes a lot and for the most part it s fairly close...though some things there are more expencive, somethings are less. it depends on what you are buying.

One U.S dollar will buy 121.56 Yen. That obviously means that the dollar is stronger. But this might not mean too much... because let s say a can of coke is $1.00 here, and if you go to Japan it s 121.56 Yen. You re paying the same amount - so currency exchange fees aside, you re getting the same basket of goods in the U.S as in Japan. So your money would go equally as far. Last time I was in London, a Kitchen Aid standing mixer was going for 240 BP at Harrod s. Back here I saw the same mixer at Macy s for $240. The BP is worth about twice as much as a dollar, so essentially, you can get the same product for half as much in the U.S. It s relative to what you make but there could be an advantage for a British person who comes here, gets twice as many dollars for their pounds and then buys the mixer for about half what they d pay at home. Of course this would make a great opportunity for some illegal sale of mixers on the British kitchen appliance black market. Sometimes it s important to look at the purchasing power parity instead because then you get a better picture of what you re U.S dollars will buy in Yen.

Same item is usually more expensive in Japan. You are charged transaction fee to convert dollar to yen. It costs money to travel to Japan. That said, US dollar may not go very far in Japan.

The current exchange rate (1 U.S. dollar = 121.34 Japanese yen) is fantastically advantageous if you are travelling to Japan from America. I was recently in Japan, and the exchange rate was hovering around the 117-119 yen per dollar range, and that made a colleague of mine who lived in Japan for a while green with envy, as she had been paid in US dollars, and had at the very BEST time during her stay got around 117 yen for her dollars. 121 yen for a dollar is awesome. It is an EXCELLENT time to travel to Japan, or to buy up yen in preparation for travel later. :-)

Yes - the dollar is strong against the yen at the moment about US$1 = 121 Yen. Good time to go!