What type of money do the Japanese use?

Travel Info
Please explain the whole money system for Japan.

Travel Tips

I lived and worked in Japan for three years. I also have a BA in International Economics. The Japanese use the YEN. The Yen is like 1 cent. It is about 124 Yen to a Dollar. To simply convert Yen into Dollar just add two decimal point锝?to the last two right numbers. For example;

10,000 Yen would be $100.00($100).

Here are the basics about Yen bills and coins.

Bills: Each bill is a different color and each bill is a slightly different size.

1) 1,0000 Yen = $10

2) 2,000 (This bill is a new bill and is not used a lot) (It is the only bill with a women on it too)

3) 5,000 Yen

4) 10,000 Yen (The most common bill is Japan is the 10,000 Yen bill. This is because, Japan is a cash society. In this a lot of stores don't take credit cards and the high price of goods and services lead to the need of larger bills).

As for coins: All the coin have picture on one side and the number value of the coin on the other side. There are no images of people on Yen Coins.

1) One Yen (It is silver looking, but it is made out of Aluminum. It is also the smallest coin) (Like a penny)

2) 5 Yen (It is brown and has a whole in the middle)
(Like a nickel)

3) 10 Yen (Copper) (Like a dime)

4) 50 Yen (Silver looking with a whole in the middle)
(Like a 1/2 dollar)

5) 100 Yen (Silver) (Like a dollar)

6) 500 Yen (Copper mix) (Largest coin) (Like $5 dollars)

Most coin machines take 5 Yen to 500 Yen coins.

As for value, the Yen is very weak now. This is because for almost 10 years the Bank of Japan has set the Bank to Bank overnight loan rate to 0. Last year they rate went up for the first time in about 10 years. This increased of the rated slightly helped the currencies to strength. The Yen has lost its lead as an Asian Currency to the Korean Won (Which is the strongest currency now) and to the fast growing Asian Currency the Chinese Currency Yuan.

The Yen has kept its strength in part because it is the second highest cash reserves held by other nations (the number one cash reserve is the US Dollar).

Hope this helps you. Please look at the links below for more detail information on the YEN. Source(s): (Bank of Japan. There is an English link. This is like the Fed. Res)

http://www.boj.or.jp/

(This is the Japanese Mint. The mint is in OSAKA Not Tokyo)

http://www.mint.go.jp/

Wikepedia information on the Yen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/yen...
Other Travel Tips

Japanese use the Yen. It is right now you get about 1.23YEN per $1.00USD
The Yen
YEN, OF COURSE.
yen