If you’re planning a trip to Japan in the near future, you may want to exchange some of your money for Japanese yen, the country’s official currency. The international symbol for the currency is JPY.
In Japanese culture, five-yen coins are considered lucky. When pronounced aloud, the word for the five-yen coin sounds the same as the word for “destiny” and “opportunity.”
This post has everything you need to know about converting USD to JPY, including where to secure the best exchange rates and how to avoid paying high fees on your conversion.
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How to Convert USD to JPY
Calculating a conversion of U.S. dollars to Japanese yen is fairly simple. You can either make the conversion using a calculator or do it by hand.
1. Use a Currency Calculator
Using a currency conversion calculator is often the easiest way to get an estimate when you’re converting currency. Since exchange rates fluctuate on a daily basis, using a calculator can ensure your math is correct.
Keep in mind that exchanging currency often comes with added fees that a conversion calculator won’t be able to predict. For instance, credit card companies and ATM networks usually charge a 1% conversion fee on all foreign transactions. Individual merchants may also charge supplemental fees if you ask them to convert the price of an item to your home currency at checkout.
2. Calculate it Manually
The other option is to do the calculation manually using a simple mathematical formula. However, in order to do this, you need to know the current exchange rate. At the time of writing, $1 USD is worth ¥143 JPY.
Once you know that information, multiply the amount you have in USD by the current exchange rate. The resulting number will show you the amount of yen that you have to spend on your trip.
Manual Currency Conversion Example
Let’s say you have $2,000 USD and would like to figure out how much yen you have for a trip to Japan. Using the current exchange rate, the formula for your conversion would look like this:
2,000 USD x 143 = ¥286,000 JPY
How to Buy Japanese Yen
When you’re ready to buy Japanese yen, plan ahead to ensure that you pay the fewest fees. Here are three ways to get the currency you need while minimizing the fees you’ll be charged:
- Exchange at a bank or credit union before your trip: Heading to your bank before your trip is often the most cost-effective way to exchange currency. Since you have an existing relationship with them, your bank is likely to give you the best exchange rates and charge the lowest fees. For example, Bank of America doesn’t charge its account holders an exchange fee. However, it does charge a shipping fee of $7.50 USD on orders worth less than $1,000.
- Use a postal service or 7-Eleven ATM: While many American banks do exist in Japan, they mainly service corporate clients. For personal use, you’ll need to go to an ATM at a post office or 7-Eleven convenience store. Just be aware that this option will come with fees—you can expect to pay up to ¥220 on top of any fees your bank charges for using an out-of-network ATM.
- Order currency online: If your bank doesn’t offer online shipping, you can also use a third party to get currency delivered to your door. However, be aware of inflated costs with some of these vendors. Currency Exchange International (CXI), for instance, advertises that it does not charge an exchange fee. However, you’ll pay up to $30 for the privilege of overnight shipping.
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What to Avoid When Exchanging Currency
- Exchanging currency at the airport: While exchanging currency at the airport is unquestionably convenient, these kiosks often offer some of the worst exchange rates while charging some of the highest fees.
- Using traveler’s checks: Traveler’s checks used to be common. However, now that credit cards are widely accepted in Japan, they have fallen out of favor. Not many merchants accept them anymore and they can be hard to exchange.
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