As a Japanese, I am concerned about the weak yen. I already hold 40% of my assets in US dollars, 40% in euros, and the rest in yen.
As traders, investors, and financial professionals know, the Bank of Japan is stuck in the ultra-easy monetary policy initiated by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The result is a financial structure that cannot even raise interest rates again to protect the value of the currency. The BOJ’s huge holdings of JGBs make it impossible to raise interest rates. If interest rates were to rise above 1%, the BOJ would become insolvent, JGBs would be downgraded, and the credibility of the yen would plummet.
Japan is now in the worst financial situation in the world. Japan will trigger the next global financial crisis, according to several economic experts. The weak yen will encourage Japanese youth to leave the country, and immigrants and foreign workers will find Japan less attractive and less likely to come in the future.
Are the foreigners and immigrants on Reddit who are earning Japanese yen thinking about leaving Japan, etc.?
I personally am thinking of moving to Canada as I think the country is very bleak.
As far as I know, my friends are also concerned about the collapse of the currency and are considering moving out of the country.
Eventually, the financial collapse and hyperinflation will cause people’s deposits to be blocked by the government, restrictions on capital movement, and the country will drop out of the developed countries.
I believe we will follow in Argentina’s footsteps.
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According to [Peter St Onge, Ph.D](https://x.com/profstonge/status/1721163636645777639?s=20).
[Japan’s slow-motion train-wreck is speeding up as the yen crashes below 150 dollar.](https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1721163186521387008/pu/vid/avc1/1280×720/ASwtt3_W_77jJ4RI.mp4?tag=12)
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Also, [ついに｢日本円の紙くず化｣は最終ステージに突入…日銀･植田総裁が仕掛けた｢YCC再修正｣の悲惨な結末 (Finally, the “turning of the Japanese Yen into a scrap of paper” has entered its final stage… The disastrous consequences of the “YCC restatement” initiated by Bank of Japan Governor Ueda.](https://president.jp/articles/-/75648))
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36 comments
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Wow. This is a pretty dumb post. BOJ can and have already indicated they will raise interest rate around next year. If the yen collapses, the world economy would collapse.
You could believe these posts, or actual foreign investors that are piling on investments in Japan to take advantage of this temporary devaluation of yen.
I see it as a temporary thing due US rates. When rates come down – and they will – things will revert to the mean. I remember when the yen was 72 to the dollar – it goes both ways and markets sort it out.
For now I’m saving yen that will be invested later – outside my DC plan that is.
The situation now is one thing, I’m still curious as to why when Shinzo Abe took office for his round two as PM in 2011/2012 (can’t remember exactly), why JPY per USD went from 77-78 very steadily up to 120+. The change was immediate and the weakening of the Yen was consistent.
what i fear is a steep swing to the opposite
america has so much debt that the only way it can finance it is by lowering the value of usd – when that happens or rather when that becomes too apparent for everyone to notice we may get jpy (seen as a safe haven) going to 50 or something
(just look how nobody wanted to buy 30 year us bonds yesterday)
I was with you until you said you wanted to move to Canada…
Japanese media is just as bad as American media.
But no, I would not think about moving out of the country while earning in Yen. Yen is fine inside the country. Why would you try and move out of it? And there are plenty of foreigners applying to live in Japan. Some bring their countries currency and spend it in Japan so 🤷♀️. Should be good for Japan.
I’m no economic expert but my quality of life here in Japan is a lot better than I would have in my American territory home and I’m grateful for what the government is doing for its citizens. I do hope it doesn’t bite them in the butt in the future.
Since I also receive money from America, I’m happy that when changing from USD to JPY I get much more. Other than that it doesn’t affect my life at all (if I didn’t get money from America, only my Japanese salary, I wouldn’t care).
You’ve diversified, a good first step.
Second step is to calm down and stop searching for information that affirms your negative outlook (confirmation bias).
Emotional decision making is the opposite of what you want to be doing during volatile markets.
We are nowhere near “uproot your whole family and move to another country” levels of poverty in Japan yet.
I mean, everyone will stay provided Japan is still better than the place that they came from.
Even with the weakening yen, II still prefer Japan over my home country.
If it gets worse, yeah sure I will hop ship, but for the time being it feels manageable.
I don’t care
I get paid in yen and my costs of living are in yen so the exchange rate doesn’t really affect my daily life too much. It would never even occur to me to be a reason to leave the country. Cost of living / the quality of life that you can get for your money in Japan is a lot better than in my home country, for one.
Don’t even think about moving to Vancouver… $2 million just for an average house that’s not far off into the boonies.
As for your outlook… as the saying goes: “There are four kinds of countries in the world: developed countries, undeveloped countries, Japan and Argentina.”
It sucks in that shopping on foreign shops and traveling is way more expensive now (I’m going back home for the first time after the pandemic next week, my ticket was crazy expensive and I’ll spend more money than last time I visited because of the exchange rate).
But living in Japan I don’t see a huge difference. Some things are getting more expensive though…
Stupidest thing I’ve read on Reddit in a while and boy that is saying something.
It only affects me when I travel home to visit family. It’s not fun buying a $1,500 USD plane ticket when you’re paid in yen. And everything is so much more expensive for me when I’m in the states. But here in Japan I’m ok, the cost of living is much better than back home and I can afford a comfortable lifestyle.
It’s just another nail in Japan’s coffin – they are in decline everywhere. Reminds me of the last days of the Byzantine Empire
I wanted to move to Europe for the second half of my twilight years. Earning my living in yen, I am stuck here now, as my yennies have turned into toilet paper. Bad timing for me, I guess. Not happy.
Inflation is definitely much higher than what the cooks at BoJ are cooking and serving to the public(even after excluding fresh food and fuel prices, coz who needs food and energy to survive anyway!)
I would say imported goods have gotten too much expensive and recently buying shoes gave me enough sticker shocks that I am willing to prolong my old Nikes few more months.
But this is the situation everywhere in the world right now (worse in US and CA probably), because of the US Fed creating the biggest money printing event in 2020 and ignoring inflation for too long.
**Yeah, the weak yen hurts, but being aware of situation elsewhere, I think the situation is still manageable**. It’s true that many Japanese will look for opportunities elsewhere and weak yen will make Japan less attractive for foreign workers, but at the same time, more attractive to foreign tourists (If USD/Yen goes to 200, Japan will be like Bali for Americans, lol).
It’s good for my Toyota stock …
Not worried as long as I stay here.
If I decide to leave, then that’s another story.
I live comfortably here but the staganation of salary and increasing prices are worrying.
Whilst japan is not as bad off as other parts regarding price hikes but sooner or later it has to catch up to them. It has to.
It doesn’t really effect me personally. I earn yen and spend it on domestic products and expenses.
Now if you want to ask me about inflation, that’s a different problem. I haven’t started hurting yet but if it gets any worse than I will pretty soon.
“japan is in the worst financial situation in the world”… really?
i earn in yen and if I visit home now ill be ten times richer than the guys in EuroTrip.
5 years ago 100円 was 50$. today 100円 are 850$. yen “weaker”? to me its literally 17 times stronger lol
/s just pointing out that not everything is USD and that these comments are relative. but calling japan in the worst situation in the world is a far stretch
> I personally am thinking of moving to Canada as I think the country is very bleak.
This just means you have don’t know what you’re talking about, unfortunately.
The quality of life here is outstanding.
> Eventually, the financial collapse and hyperinflation will cause people’s deposits to be blocked by the government, restrictions on capital movement, and the country will drop out of the developed countries.
Riiight…
If you think Japan has the worst economy right now, I suggest you to check Turkey and Argentina first.
“Take a look at my home country…” Nope, I still prefer Japan.
This week I imported some SpongeBob DVDs from America and I had to pay quite a bit more due to the weak yen. Beyond that I’m only affected by the increased prices in the supermarket. I don’t usually import anything and I don’t have any kind of foreign debts or anything like that so the supermarket makes up the bulk of it and it’s not such a big deal for me although I do wish prices would go back down. I understand that some people are really struggling right now and I feel sympathetic for their situation because I was once there myself.
I’d trust the BOJ more than any “economic analysts” on the internet betting on Japan to crash.
Of course, I don’t like what the BOJ is doing, but that’s why I trust it, because unlike me, whose interest is what’s best for ME, the BOJ is deciding policies on what’s best for the country as whole.
So yeah. If you want to go overseas for adventure, I’d say go for it!! But if you think Canada, or US, or Europe have it “better”, LOL, like many Japanese (失礼ですが）you clearly don’t pay attention to what’s going on overseas.
I know the phrase is overplayed on reddit a lot, but this is the most Dunning-Kruger post I’ve seen in a while…
Bit heavy on the doom and gloom. I work in finance (investments) and don’t hear that take often at all. Japan M&A, IPO, liquidity is doing well. Most people I hear harping about this are US or foreign suffering from the exchange rates.
Boohoo, they took a risk on earning in another currency. They had it very well for a while. I’m sick and tired of the entitlement by many on here but OK let me provide some value 👍
What Japan needs is wage growth. Most of this is driven by imports as Ueda states, the FT editorial board literally ran a piece on this the other day, give it a read. Japan’s fiscal and monetary policies are moving in opposite directions
https://on.ft.com/3QAk2Az
Did it hurt? When you fell down the slippery slope?
>Japan is now in the worst financial situation in the world.
Come on, man. Seriously you don’t think this way?
I don’t really care if the yen is weak, I just care about inflation. I know the weak yen isn’t why produce and soft drinks, all made in Japan, are going up in price.
But some of my friends have been comparing salaries in Japan to those in their home countries and getting mad and deciding to return. I can understand it a bit but they’re gonna find their cost of living is also higher in their home countries. At least rent is cheap in Japan.
Depends on how much you feel is still enough salary compensating for your suffering through the horrible Japanese work culture.
If yen falls so hard resulting in everyone getting a pay cut while the work culture getting even worse due them deciding to “ganbaru” even more (aka, establishing even longer hours, more overtime, tightening of the screws with more rules, more meetings, more stupid pointless business rituals, even less privacy) – this is where it would be time to consider that enough is enough and it’s not worth your sanity anymore. But if you’ve won the gaishikei wonderland lottery then good for you. Keep on enjoying life.
I think it sucks, but it will change. We have to wait out the US rate hike cycle. Which, I guess you could say shows how vulnerable Japan is – the currency and inflation is tied to another country’s rate policy.
Anyway, I make money in Japan and live here and so besides the inflation here, the effect is basically I can’t or don’t want to send money back to the US and I probably won’t travel next year. Technically, I am no longer paid a competitive wage for what I do compared with the US market but that’s just theoretical since I don’t live there right now and am not transferring or moving soon.
I live in Japan and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. I don’t really care tbh. I live a lovely comfortable life here in comparison to my home country.