Weak yen a help for Japan, but headache elsewhere

Put all your assets into US dollars now. I guess no-one keeps assets in the collapsing yen anymore, you'd be an absolute mug to do so.

The cheaper yen is pushing up distribution costs (due to higher petrol prices) and the costs of food imports. So far at the consumer level this does not appear to have made a dent in the deflationary spiral. The Japanese government should fix the exchange rate at ¥100 = $1, and after allowing time for prices to stabilize redenominate its currency, saving off two digits so that one yen equals one dollar. Think of how simple things will be after that!

@Virtuoso

Or just leave it ¥100 = $1.00 where ¥1 = 1 cent. Still simple and no need to go back to issuing 1, 5, 10, 50 etc sen yen coins...

The Japanese government should fix the exchange rate at ¥100 = $1, and after allowing time for prices to stabilize redenominate its currency, saving off two digits so that one yen equals one dollar. Think of how simple things will be after that!

Only simple if you deal only in yen and $. Most people don't.

If you're going to peg exchange rates why not go the whole hog and use the same currency? Seems to be working fine for Europe and the Euro......Hang on No, that's a disaster....

Let's not forget that the yen and the $ are only two of many currencies; why should they be pegged to each other, while others continue to fluctuate in line with the markets? Pegging the yen to the $ will do nothing to help either side of the trade between Japan and other countries, which happen to make up the rest of the world.

People are complaining now because of the 'weak' yen, a year ago they were complaining about the 'strong' yen. Bottom line, there is no perfect exchange rate that pleases everybody.

Abe, Aso & company should be tinkled pink. Their plan to boost the nation's standards by 2% is working. For example, Yamazaki Baking Company will increase the price of many of its bread products by 2%-6% on July 1 due to the yen's rapid depreciation, which has pushed up the prices of raw & packing materials. Other bakeries will surely follow in pushing up their prices.

So everytime you take a bite of bread, give thanks to Abe and his cronies for making it more expensive than their 2% target.

Of course, rising prices are not going to stop with bread. They will also go up for such things as instant noodles, foreign meats, foreign this, foreign that ... anything that is imported.

Again ... thank you Mr. Abe for making life more expensive for all of us.

Oh, by the way, where are all those wage increases you are demanding from our employers?

And, by the way, perhaps you had better retake those basic math courses you had in school. Something in your 2% increase plans just doesn't seem to add up ... especially in my gradually emptying pockets.

This weaker yen is killing my husbands sales at work. He works with Japanese companies buying machines and other parts from America and Europe and ever since this started his projects have been failing left and right..who is this better for?..not people in my husbands job field.

True test of Abenomics is approaching. The temporary euphoria of weak yen and stock market increases which were caused by hedge fund type speculation will be reevaluated, and the true direction of the Japanese economy will be analyzed. Whether the economy is heading in a generally good direction is yet to be seen. One bonus that may await this country is the opportunity to host Olympics in Tokyo, that will be a boon for this economy

Clearly a higher yen will affect those selling products to Japan.

My thought was, what was their business like before the yen lost so much value? The yen was more expensive before the financial crisis. So, from my point of view, businesses that survived on the more expensive yen were not sustainable.

Furthermore, when the yen lost value, companies in Japan were also hurt. The companies that survived had to struggle a number of years.

What should the yen exchange rate be? No telling.

However, I agree with Abenomic's goal of creating inflation and economic growth. If a stronger yen is a bi-product, then on all fronts it is better for Japan.

Strange that we consider 100 yen to the dollar as "a weak yen."

When I was doing sales in Japan the 120 yen to the dollar was great for business since I bought in Japan and sold to the world. When things crashed down to 75 it was a real killer. Now it's at 101. Most businesses can handle some fluctuations in currency values, but when it jumps all over the place in a short amount of time it screws with stability. People on both sides wonder if they're going to be hurting 6 months from now which erodes confidence.