30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 22

#22 Money - Japanese Yen

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In Japan, the currency is the yen noted as ¥ or 円.  At the time this is being published, the rate of the Yen to the U.S. dollar is about 100¥ to $1.  One of the easiest things to do (and something we did for the first few years we were here when taking money out of the ATM machines), is to just cover up the last two digits to figure out how much you are spending.  Seriously, those zeros sometimes get confusing.

Bills
The 1,000 Yen note is about $10 USD.

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The 10,000 Yen note is about $100 USD.  And referred to as "an ichiman"

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(There is also a 2000¥ note, but the aren't commonly found when you are out and about shopping for things).

Coins

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500¥ - about $5 USD (it's about the size of a silver dollar)
100¥ is about $1 USD
50¥ is about 50 cents
10¥ is about 10 cents
5 ¥ is about 5 cents
1 ¥ is just like our penny (and feels fake and almost weighs nothing).

In Japan, the money is always clean and barely looks used.

Foreign debit/credit cards in Japan usually work at the stores, but not always at the ATM machines, which are plentiful.  However, the Post Offices have ATMs that accept foreign cards (and have "English" and sometimes "Korean"/"Portuguese" buttons for easy use).

One of the other issues with getting cash, as at least where we live, is that there are no ATM machines open late at night or early in the morning - so you just have to plan well when you need cash.

When you are here, you'll have no issues, as we have both foreign and Japanese bank accounts to get money.

And always, because Japan is so safe, you can easily walk around with money or ask for help when you are trying to figure out how much something is, because they are definitely not trying to rip you off!