If you are looking to travel to Japan anytime soon, you are in luck.

The Singapore dollar reached a new high against the Japanese yen of S$1 to 118.21 yen on Jun. 27, 2024, according to Google Finance:

A historic low

The yen has been steadily weakening since March 2024.

On Mar. 22, the yen plunged to a historic low of 112.85 yen to S$1.

The yen tumbled again to another low of 116.02 yen to S$1 on Apr. 27.

Financial Times reported that the yen fell to its lowest against the U.S. dollar since 1986 on Jun. 26, with 160.3 yen trading for US$1.

Measures to prop up yen

Nikkei Asia explained that the yen's decline, part of a historic trend since 2022, is largely due to interest rate gap pressures and a growing trade deficit.

Measures to prop up the yen might be expected.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Jun. 27 that Japanese authorities were ready to take "necessary actions" on the declining yen, according to CNA. 

CNA also reported that the Bank of Japan has dropped signals of an imminent interest rate hike, which would strengthen the yen.

Tourism galore

A weak yen might be good news for Singaporean tourists. It means that our dollar has more purchasing power in Japan.

That being said, the weak yen has led to a flood of tourists into Japan from around the world.

In turn, many in Japan are complaining about overcrowding and poor behaviour by tourists, Bloomberg reported.

Top photo from Canva.