Japan Travel Guide

Japan's ongoing economic recession has brought some good news for travellers to the extent that there are now more discount deals available and, in certain cases, yen prices have remained stable or even fallen slightly. Unfortunately, such advantages have largely been wiped out by the recent strength of the yen, meaning that your foreign currency buys you that much less. However, with careful planning Japan is still a manageable destination for even those on a modest budget. The key is to do what the majority of Japanese do: eat in local restaurants, stay in Japanese-style inns and take advantage of any available discounts. That said, if you make the wrong choice of bar or take a longish taxi ride, it can blow your budget apart.

The Japanese currency is the yen (¥), of which there are no subdivisions. Notes are available in denominations of ¥1000, ¥2000, ¥5000 and ¥10,000, while coins come in values of ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥50, ¥100 and ¥500. Apart from the ¥5 piece, a copper-coloured coin with a hole in the centre, all other notes and coins indicate their value in Western numerals. Note that, at the time of writing, ticket, change and vending machines have not yet been upgraded to accept the new ¥2000 notes and ¥500 coins (older, more silver-coloured ¥500 coins are OK). Also at the time of writing, the exchange rate was approximately ¥175 to £1, ¥118 to US$1, and ¥66 to A$1. Japan is currently experiencing negative inflation at a rate hovering between zero and minus one percent.