The yen remains historically weak against the US dollar, Canadian dollar, and other major currencies, but Japan's own prices are rising too. Here is what the exchange rate actually means for your trip.
Edited by Sarah M. · Reviewed by James R.
Quick Answer
As of September 18, 2026, the yen remains historically weak, at about ¥156.9 per US dollar and ¥112 per Canadian dollar, after touching its weakest level since 1986 in July. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1.25% on September 18, but the US Federal Reserve also raised rates that week, so the gap that keeps the yen weak barely narrowed. That gives US, Canadian, UK, European, Australian, and New Zealand travelers real purchasing-power gains inside Japan, but Japanese domestic prices, especially hotels in busy cities, are rising at the same time, and the rate itself can move sharply, as a rare Japan-US intervention just showed.
As of September 18, 2026, the Japanese yen remains historically weak against the US dollar, Canadian dollar, euro, British pound, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar. That weakness gives many international visitors real purchasing-power gains once they land in Japan, since yen-priced spending, meals, local transport, shopping, and everyday attractions, converts to fewer home-currency dollars, euros, or pounds than it did a few years ago.
The situation is not simply "Japan is cheap," though. Japan's own domestic prices are rising, hotel rates in the most visited cities have climbed sharply on strong demand, and a rare coordinated currency intervention by Japan and the United States in early August 2026 already showed that the exchange rate can move fast. A rate that looks favorable today is not guaranteed to hold by the time you actually travel.
So is now a good time to visit Japan, from a purely financial standpoint? For most US, Canadian, UK, European, Australian, and New Zealand travelers, the exchange rate is still working in their favor. That advantage should be treated as a bonus on a trip you were already planning, not the deciding factor, and it should be weighed against rising in-country costs rather than assumed to make every part of the trip cheaper.
The table below shows approximate reference rates for one unit of each currency in Japanese yen. These are mid-market rates meant to illustrate the general level, not the rate you will actually receive from a bank, card issuer, or currency exchange counter, which apply their own spread and, for cash exchange, often an added fee.
| Currency | Approx. JPY (mid-market) |
|---|---|
| US Dollar (USD) | ¥156.87 |
| Canadian Dollar (CAD) | ¥111.99 |
| Euro (EUR) | ¥179.84 |
| British Pound (GBP) | ¥209.77 |
| Australian Dollar (AUD) | ¥111.55 |
| New Zealand Dollar (NZD) | ¥89.57 |
A simple way to see the effect of the weak yen is to look at how far a single ¥10,000 note goes for different travelers. The table below converts ¥10,000 into six currencies using the rates above.
| Currency | Approx. cost of ¥10,000 |
|---|---|
| US Dollar | $63.75 |
| Canadian Dollar | $89.30 |
| Euro | €55.61 |
| British Pound | £47.67 |
| Australian Dollar | $89.65 |
| New Zealand Dollar | $111.64 |
Both tables above use the US Federal Reserve's H.10 foreign exchange rates for September 18, 2026 (release of September 21). Rates against the yen for the Canadian dollar, euro, pound, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar are cross rates calculated from each currency's H.10 rate against the US dollar. Exchange rates move throughout each trading day and will already be different by the time you read this, so treat these figures as a reference point for the general level, not a locked-in number for your trip. This article first published with August 13, 2026 rates, when the yen stood near ¥159.5 per dollar.
At roughly ¥156.9 per US dollar, American travelers are getting meaningfully more yen for their dollar than they did through most of the 2010s, when the rate typically sat between ¥100 and ¥120. That gap is the core reason Japan has felt affordable to US visitors over the past few years.
| Yen amount | Approx. USD |
|---|---|
| ¥1,500 | $9.56 |
| ¥5,000 | $31.87 |
| ¥10,000 | $63.75 |
| ¥20,000 | $127.49 |
| ¥100,000 | $637.47 |
Canadian travelers benefit from the same dynamic against a slightly different baseline. At roughly ¥112 per Canadian dollar, the loonie also buys more yen than it has for much of the past decade, though CAD/JPY has not weakened quite as dramatically as USD/JPY, since the Canadian dollar itself has been broadly softer against the US dollar over the same period.
| Yen amount | Approx. CAD |
|---|---|
| ¥1,500 | $13.39 |
| ¥5,000 | $44.65 |
| ¥10,000 | $89.30 |
| ¥20,000 | $178.59 |
| ¥100,000 | $892.97 |
The same basic dynamic applies to the British pound, euro, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar, though the size of the advantage differs by currency. The pound and euro have held up particularly well against the yen, at roughly ¥210 to the pound and ¥180 to the euro, giving UK and eurozone travelers some of the strongest purchasing power of any major visitor group.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars have softened somewhat against their own benchmark currencies over the same stretch, so their advantage against the yen, while still real at roughly ¥111.6 and ¥89.6 respectively, is comparatively smaller than the UK's or the eurozone's. In every case, yen-priced spending inside Japan currently converts favorably, but the size of that advantage is currency-specific and moves with each pair independently.
The main driver is the gap between US and Japanese interest rates. The US Federal Reserve's benchmark rate sat in a 3.50% to 3.75% range through mid-2026 and was raised to 3.75% to 4.00% on September 16, 2026, while the Bank of Japan's policy rate reached 1.25% only on September 18, 2026. That gap makes it more profitable to hold dollar-denominated assets than yen-denominated ones, pulling capital out of yen and weakening the currency, a pattern often called the yen carry trade.
That pressure pushed the yen to its weakest level against the dollar since November 1986, roughly forty years, when it touched ¥163.99 per dollar on July 23, 2026. In response, Japan's Ministry of Finance and the US Treasury carried out a rare coordinated intervention in early August 2026, buying yen in the market together for the first time since 2011. The yen strengthened sharply afterward, briefly trading near ¥157 to ¥158 per dollar, before drifting back toward ¥159 to ¥160 by mid-August. By September 18 it had firmed slightly, to ¥156.87 per dollar on the Federal Reserve's H.10 release.
Japanese officials have signaled they are prepared to intervene again if the yen weakens sharply. Goldman Sachs analysts noted in mid-August 2026 that Japan holds roughly $1 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, giving it substantial capacity to do so.
A weak yen is not free for Japan. The country imports most of its energy and a significant share of its food, so a weaker yen makes those imports more expensive in yen terms, and that cost flows through to Japanese businesses and households. Japan's yen-based import price index rose 29.1% year-on-year in July 2026, a direct sign of how much currency weakness is adding to import costs.
That import pressure is a meaningful part of why the Bank of Japan said in July 2026 that it expects core inflation to keep running above its 2% target, and why the central bank has been raising interest rates gradually since 2024 rather than leaving the yen to weaken further unchecked. At its July 31, 2026 meeting, the policy board voted 8-1 to hold rates at 1.00%, with one member pushing for an immediate hike to 1.25% specifically because of these price pressures. At the next meeting, on September 18, the board made that move, voting 7-2 to raise the rate to 1.25%, effective September 24.
This is the point most "Japan is cheap" narratives miss. The weak yen and rising Japanese prices are happening at the same time, not instead of each other. A hotel room, a train ticket, or a restaurant meal can cost more yen this year than it did last year, and still cost an American, Canadian, or European traveler fewer dollars, euros, or pounds than it did last year, because the exchange rate has moved further than the yen price has.
Tourism spending data illustrates this. Foreign visitors spent a record ¥9.5 trillion in Japan in 2025, and international visitor spending reached ¥2.3 trillion in the first quarter of 2026 alone, up 2.5% from a year earlier. But average spending per visitor was about ¥221,000 in the first quarter of 2026, roughly flat, and even slightly down, from a year earlier once measured in yen. Some of the "record spending" headlines reflect a currency effect as much as travelers actually spending more per person.
Hotels are the clearest example of Japanese prices rising faster than the exchange rate can offset. Industry data reported a record national average hotel rate of about ¥23,397 per night in April 2026, and Kyoto's average room rate climbed from about ¥39,474 in April 2024 to about ¥50,277 in April 2026, an increase of roughly 27% in two years, driven mainly by strong demand from international visitors rather than by the currency. Kyoto also raised its accommodation tax by as much as 900% for top-tier hotels starting in March 2026, from ¥1,000 to ¥10,000 per person per night, specifically to manage overtourism pressure.
Not every expense on a Japan trip is affected by the exchange rate the same way. The table below separates spending that is priced in yen and paid inside Japan, where the weak yen helps most, from spending that is priced or booked outside Japan, where it usually does not.
| Tends to benefit from the weak yen | Usually not affected by the yen |
|---|---|
| Restaurants, cafes, and convenience store spending | International airfare to and from Japan |
| Local transport (subway, bus, city rail fares) | Packages or tours priced in your home currency |
| Domestic rail travel priced in yen, including Shinkansen | Products and services with internationally set pricing |
| Attractions, museums, and experiences priced in yen | Prepaid international bookings made before your trip |
| Shopping for locally priced goods | Peak-season hotel rooms in high-demand cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, where rising demand can outweigh the currency advantage |
Yes, and the events of summer 2026 are a direct demonstration of how quickly that can happen. The yen moved from ¥163.99 per dollar on July 23 to roughly ¥157 to ¥158 per dollar within about a week, once Japan and the United States intervened together in early August. A move of that size, more than 4%, in days rather than months, is exactly the kind of shift that can change what a trip actually costs.
Two forces could push the yen stronger before you travel. First, further intervention: Japanese officials have said they are prepared to act again, and reserve capacity is not a constraint. Second, interest rates: the Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1.25% on September 18, 2026, but the US Federal Reserve raised its own range to 3.75% to 4.00% two days earlier, so the rate gap that has kept the yen weak did not narrow. Further moves by either central bank could change that in either direction. These are possibilities, not certainties, and this article does not predict a specific future exchange rate.
None of this means the yen is about to snap back to the levels of a decade ago. It means the rate you see today is a snapshot, not a forecast, and travelers with a trip several months out should plan with that uncertainty in mind rather than assume today's numbers will still apply.
There is no reliable way to predict whether the yen will be stronger or weaker on the specific day of your trip, so timing one large currency exchange around a forecast is not a strategy this article can responsibly recommend. A more practical approach is to avoid depending on a single exchange rate or a single exchange day, spreading purchases and withdrawals across the trip instead.
It also matters where your money actually gets exchanged. The mid-market rates shown earlier in this article are a reference point, not what you receive in practice. Banks, airport currency counters, and credit cards each apply their own margin above the mid-market rate, and airport exchange counters are typically the most expensive option. Foreign transaction fees on credit and debit cards, and ATM withdrawal fees, can also add several percentage points to the effective cost of spending abroad.
If a Japanese merchant or ATM offers to charge your card in your home currency instead of yen, a practice called dynamic currency conversion, it is generally worth declining and paying in yen instead, since the conversion rate offered is usually worse than your card network's own rate. See the Money in Japan guide for a full walkthrough of cash, cards, IC cards, and ATM strategy.
Because the exchange rate can move meaningfully between now and your travel date, it is worth budgeting with a buffer rather than assuming today's favorable rate holds. One practical approach is to plan your trip budget using a modestly less favorable rate than today's, for example, several yen weaker per dollar or per Canadian dollar than the current reference rate, purely as a planning cushion.
That buffer is illustrative, not a forecast of where the yen is heading. Its purpose is to avoid a budget that only works if the exchange rate stays exactly where it is today, given that it already moved more than 4% in a single week once in 2026. See the Japan budget guide for a full breakdown of daily costs by travel style.
From a foreign-exchange standpoint, conditions remain favorable for most US, Canadian, UK, European, Australian, and New Zealand travelers as of September 2026. The yen is trading well below the levels most Western travelers were used to for much of the past two decades, and that gives real purchasing-power benefit for yen-priced spending inside the country.
But that advantage sits alongside rising domestic prices, a hotel market where demand has outpaced the currency benefit in the most visited cities, and a currency that has already shown it can move sharply within days. Treat today's weak yen as a bonus on a trip you would want to take anyway, not a guarantee that will still exist, in exactly this form, by the time you land.
Japan is not literally cheap, since domestic prices are rising, but the weak yen means US dollars go further than they have through most of the past two decades. As of September 18, 2026, one US dollar bought roughly ¥156.9, up from roughly ¥100 to ¥120 for most of the 2010s, so yen-priced spending like meals, local transport, and shopping costs fewer dollars than it would have a few years ago.
The same dynamic applies to the Canadian dollar, which traded at roughly ¥112 per CAD as of September 18, 2026. Canadian travelers get more yen for their dollar than they did through much of the past decade, though Japanese domestic prices, especially hotels in popular cities, have also been rising.
The main driver is the gap between US and Japanese interest rates. The Federal Reserve's benchmark rate (3.75% to 4.00% after a September 2026 hike) has stayed well above the Bank of Japan's policy rate, which reached just 1.25% in September 2026, making it more attractive to hold dollar assets than yen assets and pulling capital, and demand, away from the yen.
There is no reliable way to predict whether the exchange rate will be more or less favorable by your travel date, so exchanging a large amount at one moment based on a forecast is not something this article recommends. Spreading currency exchange and ATM withdrawals across the trip, and using a card with no foreign transaction fee, is a more reliable approach than trying to time the market.
Yes. In 2026 alone, the yen moved from a roughly 40-year low of ¥163.99 per dollar in late July to around ¥157 to ¥158 per dollar within about a week, after Japan and the United States intervened in currency markets together. A future Bank of Japan interest rate hike could also strengthen the yen, though the timing of any hike is not certain.
Not necessarily. Hotel rates in heavily visited cities like Tokyo and Kyoto have risen sharply due to strong demand from international visitors, in some cases enough to offset some or all of the benefit from the weak yen. Industry data put the national average hotel rate at a record ¥23,397 per night in April 2026.
Sourced from Bank of Japan, Japan's Ministry of Finance, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Japan Tourism Agency, and Reuters, Bloomberg, and CNBC market reporting, re-verified September 27, 2026 against the Federal Reserve's September 21 H.10 release and the September 2026 Bank of Japan and FOMC decisions.
September 27, 2026Update
Scheduled re-verification. Replaced August 13 rates with the Federal Reserve H.10 rates for September 18, 2026 (release of September 21) across all tables and summaries, and added the Bank of Japan's September 18 hike to 1.25% (7-2 vote, effective September 24) and the Federal Reserve's September 16 hike to 3.75%-4.00%. Removed the Xe.com reference, which no longer supports any figure on the page.
August 13, 2026Update
Initial publication. Covers verified August 13, 2026 exchange rates across six major currencies, the July 2026 40-year yen low, the early August 2026 coordinated Japan-US intervention, and Bank of Japan policy context. Evergreen follow-ups: forward links to the Money in Japan and Japan Budget guides; scheduled re-verification of rates and BOJ policy ahead of the next expected BOJ decision.
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