Japan's weaker yen a blessing to some, burden for others

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese yen has weakened, trading in recent weeks at 20-year lows of 130 yen to the U.S. dollar just when prices of oil and other goods are surging partly due to the war in Ukraine.

The yen's value against the U.S. dollar and other currencies has fallen mainly because interest rates remain ultra-low in Japan but are rising in the U.S. and other countries. So Japanese who have seen prices barely inch up for many years, or even drop due to deflation, are doubly feeling the ripple effects of rising global inflation.

The price of popular Umaibo, or “yummy stick,” snack bars recently increased for the first time in 42 years, from 10 yen (8 cents) to 12 yen (9 cents) each.

Popular 100-yen store chains Daiso and Can Do, the Japanese equivalents of American dollar stores, have yet to become 150-yen stores. But they are switching suppliers, mostly in China, where the yen used to buy more.

A cheap yen has historically been welcomed in export-driven Japan, boosting the overseas earnings of its manufacturers when they convert them into yen. Operating profit at Japan’s top automaker Toyota Motor Corp. got a hefty 610 billion yen ($4.7 billion) windfall from the favorable exchange rate.

These days, the weaker currency is a mixed blessing.

EARNING LESS

Tran Ha Van isn’t at all happy about what’s happening with the yen.

For the nearly 10 years she's lived in Japan almost all of her income has been in yen. Every two months, the Vietnamese technology professional sends money home to her parents, a retired electronic engineer and a housewife.

“What I send them has dropped considerably in value,” she said.

When Tran bought Vietnamese food recently for the lunar New Year, prices for everything had jumped. A gift of a personal computer for her parents, for instance, cost...