The yen has been falling for months, weighed down by many factors, adding up to continued inflation in the United States. It is now soaring to 154 yen, its lowest level since 1990, after falling by just about 155 yen last week.
As a result, the value of things for Japanese travelers has reached an uncomfortable level, adding staples such as food.
An NHK correspondent in New York says he bought this Big Mac for $6 and 52 cents in Times Square in New York. That’s about 1,000 yen if you calculate 154 yen to the dollar, and double the price you would charge in Japan.
The online reaction was swift. One user said that he would bring instant miso soup and noodles on a business vacation to the United States. Another said the weak yen makes overseas travel more expensive, so he plans to take a domestic vacation during the spring break period.
Schools that emphasize schooling through foreign exchanges are suffering, such as a top school in Tokyo that sends its students to Hawaii on school trips.
The assistant principal showed us the estimated costs for a sophomore trip to Hawaii scheduled for October.
The cost is 280,710 yen compared to the user in 2019. Five years later, it amounts to 448,138 yen, an increase of more than 160,000 yen.
The school has been organizing trips to Hawaii for more than 10 years, with the goal of introducing its students to the latest maritime studies and unique creatures. But it may simply replace its fate next year due to the weak yen.
The assistant principal says it would be a shame to miss out on valuable opportunities like this. Students are looking for options for this vacation, and the school needs options.
Japanese academics hoping to study are also considering changing their plans due to rising tuition and housing prices caused by the yen’s weakness.
A Tokyo-based company that helps students make study plans told NHK in November that the number of inquiries about changes to plans was increasing.
Kato Yukari, vice president of the company, said the cost of reading in Canada for a year is between 2 and 3 million yen, not including expenses, but now it costs at least a million yen more.
As a result, there are more and more requests for data on how to reduce the length of stay, convert countries or projects.
Kato said some students change their destination to countries that allow them to paint while studying.
As the depreciation of the yen makes travel more difficult, a new way of reading has gained attention. A new approach uses the metaverse.
The Philippine island of Cebu has been recreated in Metaverse to give people a simulated online study experience.
Users receive information in English from local teachers, who inform them about things such as local culmination and popular sports.
The service operator says some high schools have started using the program due to the coronavirus pandemic and demand is increasing.
Kido Wataru, president of the company that offers the service, says: “There are schools and parents who have to give up abroad because of the weak yen. We need to provide positive reporting through various initiatives. “