Since the U.S. dollar is back around 100 yen in foreign exchange, it is now easier to figure out a quick conversion in one's head on a price of a Japanese item.
What I did during my six visits to Japan, if something caught my eye and I was thinking about purchasing it, I would use this system to figure out how much that item was in American dollars.
For example, here are some fish for sale at a vendor near the Tsukiji Fish Market:
There is one fish for sale at a price of ¥3,960 on the right. How much would that roughly be in American dollars?
Well, if you happen to be in Japan while the exchange rate between dollars and yen is ¥100/$1.00 (which is roughly what it currently is), the answer is very easy.
Take the yen price of ¥3,960. Then place a period two numbers (digits) from the right. You get 39.60. Then, put a dollar sign to the left of the numbers in your mind and you get $39.60. That's the amount in U.S. dollars. It is up to you if you'd pay $39.60 for a fish, provided you happen to like to eat that species of fish.
Simple, eh?
What if the dollar is buying slightly more than ¥100? All you need to do is subtract the difference to the amount based on ¥100/$1.00 (for example: if the rate is ¥105/$1.00, just subtract 5 yen per dollar (in this case, only five yen is involved so subtract 5 from $1.00) and the cost is $.95). Think of the five yen as five pennies. The reverse would be true if the dollar is buying less than ¥100. Just add.
Still, adding a period two digits from the right will still give you a rough idea what the cost is in dollars, no matter what the exchange rate is. If the dollar buys more yen, then the item is slightly cheaper. If the dollar buys less yen, then the item is a slightly more expensive.
Here's the current Japanese currency (missing is the ¥2,000 note):
What I did during my six visits to Japan, if something caught my eye and I was thinking about purchasing it, I would use this system to figure out how much that item was in American dollars.
For example, here are some fish for sale at a vendor near the Tsukiji Fish Market:
There is one fish for sale at a price of ¥3,960 on the right. How much would that roughly be in American dollars?
Well, if you happen to be in Japan while the exchange rate between dollars and yen is ¥100/$1.00 (which is roughly what it currently is), the answer is very easy.
Take the yen price of ¥3,960. Then place a period two numbers (digits) from the right. You get 39.60. Then, put a dollar sign to the left of the numbers in your mind and you get $39.60. That's the amount in U.S. dollars. It is up to you if you'd pay $39.60 for a fish, provided you happen to like to eat that species of fish.
Simple, eh?
What if the dollar is buying slightly more than ¥100? All you need to do is subtract the difference to the amount based on ¥100/$1.00 (for example: if the rate is ¥105/$1.00, just subtract 5 yen per dollar (in this case, only five yen is involved so subtract 5 from $1.00) and the cost is $.95). Think of the five yen as five pennies. The reverse would be true if the dollar is buying less than ¥100. Just add.
Still, adding a period two digits from the right will still give you a rough idea what the cost is in dollars, no matter what the exchange rate is. If the dollar buys more yen, then the item is slightly cheaper. If the dollar buys less yen, then the item is a slightly more expensive.
Here's the current Japanese currency (missing is the ¥2,000 note):
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