The dollar is tanking everywhere else, but oddly, the Japanese yen seems to be doing worse. The last I looked, the exchange rate was 121 JPY to 1 USD, which is the best it has been in six years or so. This makes Japan one of the most affordable destinations for Americans right now...especially if you go to the countryside and stay in Japanese-style hotels rather than expensive city hotels like Tokyo's famous Park Hyatt.

And so, I've been looking into hot springs ryokans for my September vacation....

daisann:

What is the point?

You could also go to Singapore, Beijing, or Hong Kong for about the same exchange rate and see more and walk away with more from the markets. Japan is not cheap and the Chinas are so outside of the hotels.

Have you noticed that the dollar is fallen to historic low against the euro? This is happening in a contraction period of the dollar; that's why the FED won't let up for the housing meltdown. More people are losing homes than ever before in our history, more than the great depression, more than the farmers lost in the farm depression of 1920-21; it is a nationwide epidemic and there is no relief in sight.

In point of fact, relief has been wiped off the map. Subprime funding in America is zero; the entire money sector is gone; all of it; there are no subprime loans on the market; just four years ago this was the biggest growth on the planet. today, you either qualify for A paper or you drop to B paper; how's that for placing a gap between the classes? Housing confidence amongst builders is way, way down. It keeps unraveling and the FED frets between absolute denial and statements to the effect that it isn't their fault.

well, it most certainly is the FED's fault but that doesn't matter as much as the system is doing nothing to bail out homeowners... when corporations fail they get bailed out but when the people are all going under in droves, no one even mentions a whisper that it is happening. Why isn't it an election issue? Some government of the people, eh?

And then the next question is what will happen to the dollar in the next expansion cycle? Remember my tailspin to collapse posts? It keeps happening.

Ah Japan, home to the largest public debt in the world. And to top it off, their trade surplus is shrinking. Though the Eurozone doesn't do much better either by this measure.

Hey, I think Hong Kong and China are great places to visit on vacation--that's why I live here!

Tracking the big bucket of Asian currencies (RMB, won, rupiah, Thai Bhat, Sing dollar, ringgit, yen) you can see that the Japanese yen is the only one that's gone down this past year, relative to the USD. (The HKD is pegged to the USD, and doesn't change.)

Japan will always be more expensive, relatively, than say, Thailand. But right now it is much more affordable than it has been in years, so if you have been putting off going there because of the cost, now is the time to do it.

daisann:

Narita never excited me and I did not really care for Japan which may have skewed my thoughts about it. I was introduced to Hong Kong about 10 years ago while traveling for my Japanese company. My American boss and I stayed a weekend there after coming out of China, a week of long meetings. We did the usual tourist things such as The Peak and shopping (mainland China had better deals and multiple knock -offs). Hong Kong antiques on Hollywood Road were always interesting to see.

Did not do The Penisula; but, I stayed at The Royal Garden on Kowloon. The hotel seems to make it a point of remembering you after a couple of trips. Has Disney ruined the island? Hong Kong.

You have hit upon my point about the dollar to the Hong Kong Dollar and the Yuan - Remin ($7.82 HK to the US Dollar). Ths has been relatively unchanges since being at (?) 8.2 HK to US Dollar. In which case China in comparison to Japan (Kong Kong included) is still a great bargain. Personally, I would skip Japan and go to China and Thailand (Baht is up tremendously compared to the Dollar). Just noticed Yuan is now different than the HK dollar and at 7.57 to the US Dollar. HK and Yusan used to lock step to the US Dollar.

What makes both China and Thailand exceptional bargains is the ability to barter for things, which I believe is almost non-existant in Japan. Fantastic places to visit and both places put US history on a different scale in comparison. My last time around, I did get to go to The Wall for a day and the Japanese plant manager sent his van, driver, and an interpreter along (I had not planed on this). Ever have KFC at The Wall? Not as good as the Chinese food; but, the oddity of it truck us. Two huge contrasts!

Cheap is only when one looks at the total cost. Japan will always be more expensive even with exchange rate variance favoring cost. Next time over, I will now have a person to ask about what to see.