I checked today's exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen and found that the rate has not improved since I last covered this subject.
The International Currency Converter website showed that today's rate is 1 US Dollar (USD) = 88.8475 Japanese Yen (JPY). This means that a visitor to Japan would get (provided he's a "high-roller") 88.8475 yen for every dollar that is exchanged. Ordinary visitors would get an even lower rate.
If a visitor somehow got the best rate (per above) and exchanged $1,500, he'd get 133,271.25 yen. I last went to Japan in April 2007 and I got a rate of 116 yen per dollar. I exchanged $1,500 and received 174,000 yen. That's a difference of 40728.75, roughly $400 less than two years ago.
If the planned stimulous package goes through Congress and is signed by President Obama, this could cause inflation and will weaken the U.S. dollar even more. If you think the exchange rates are bad now, just wait and see what could happen if the Democrats pass the stimulous bill as it now stands. It will actually stimulate nothing good, and inflation and a weak dollar is not good.
Unless you feel you can absorb the loss, you many want to put off travel to Japan until things improve.
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