The power of ¥

Sleepy-san here.

Lucky Star Nendoroid Petite Box Set

I’ve often wondered what other people go through when trying to exchange money from their native currency to the Japanese ¥. Everyone has their favourite ways and means but at the end of the day, people just need money to spend in Japan.  I, for one, looked around for the best deal but didn’t really get too far until a forum I occasionally frequent popped up with a super answer, Thomas Exchange Global. If you’re a UK resident they offer a simple, quick service and very good exchange rates! They don’t charge commission but they do charge a nominal fee for posting the money to you…which to be fair is really quite good value for money; Special Delivery service is an expensive service.

Right now, if you are a UK resident you will much saddened to hear that since the economic downturn the English pound Sterling has been quite utterly shocking; it’s basically collapsed and to put it in perspective, the English Pound (£) has dropped about 40% of it’s value against the Japanese Yen (¥).

As I type this, the exchange rate for us punters is sitting at 142.1 ¥ = £1. Compare that value with what it was like some two years ago which hovered around 227 ¥ = £1. Massive drop.

Doujinshi - 100 yen each

So once you’ve exchanged your cold hard native money to Japanese Yen you’ll be wanting to pay/buy stuff! One of the biggest pitfalls is to convert the price of what you want back to your native currency (in my case, British Pound). You may be curious as to why I say this; currency exchange rises and falls over time. It’s also pointless to use price paid for an item as a “bragging right”; what you buy is for you and if you love it then money isn’t a major factor. There is a caveat in this; if you are expecting to head to Japan to buy some cheap electrical goods you may be in for a surprise. Items you can get in your native country may work out similar or cheaper, an example is a controller for the PS3. In the UK you can buy them for around £35 (new) and with the weak Pound the conversion equates to £50 for the same controller. The point I am trying to put across is  to think before you buy but never soley rely on monetary conversion to determine your purchase.

DS Lite + Spice & Wolf items

Whilst I was in Tokyo I purchased several items ranging from magazines/books, to markers, to figurines. Quite a few of the items are either very hard to purchase in the UK or have a premium added to them when sold in the UK. All the items I purchased, I purchased on the basis of liking the item in question. I admit I did do the monetary conversion in my head  and it’s something I can’t switch off but it never determined the purchase of any product with one exception, the purchase of a Nintendo DS Lite. In the end I determined my purchase of the DS Lite on a flip of a 500 ¥ coin. Yes, that’s right, a coin flip determined my purchase and this was down to how similar the pricing is between a UK DS Lite and a JDM DS Lite.

The best way to use the money you have converted is to simply see it as you have ‘x’ amount of Yen and can you fit purchases within your budget. You’re in Japan so think in Japanese money; it certainly made my life in Japan very easy working to a Japanese Yen budget.

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