With the December holidays drawing closer, it’s about time to plan what to do at the end of the year.
You can consider going to Japan because the Japanese Yen has just fallen to a historic low—which means you will have more money to buy Anime stuff or Japanese food.
And also…Japan is finally reopening its borders soon.
Japan Currently Allows Travelling in A Tour Group
Tourists have not been permitted to enter Japan since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their regulations loosened slightly to allow some students and business travellers to enter.
From 10 June 2022, only group tours are allowed during this period and individual tourists still remained barred.
Imagine having to spend a few thousand dollars on expensive tour packages, activities you may not enjoy, and worse of all, being rushed to assemble at a certain time like you are on a primary school excursion.
In order to join these tours, you need to be triple-vaccinated and come from the United States, Australia, Thailand and Singapore.
During that period, there were only about 8,000 tourists who arrived in Japan, compared to more than 80,000 visitors a day before the pandemic.
Japan PM announces that Borders Will Reopen
Japan’s minister, Mr Fumio Kishida, just announced that Japan will allow VISA-free travel, as well as independent tourism, and will also abolish their daily arrival cap from 11 October 2022.
He said, “COVID-19, of course, interrupted all of these benefits, but from October 11, Japan will relax border control measures to be on par with the U.S., as well as resume visa-free travel and individual travel.”
Finally.
The government will also launch a nationwide travel discount program, which had been paused to minimise the spread of COVID-19.
This program reduces the cost for public transportation and accommodation by up to 8,000 yen per night per person. For accommodation, costs will be cut up to 5,000 yen. You will also get restaurant coupons worth 3,000 yen on weekdays and 1,000 yen on weekends.
If you think this is good news, here’s an even better news…for us tourists of course.
Japanese Yen Falls to Historic Low Against SGD
Japanese Yen has fallen to historic low against Singapore dollars. Simply put, this means that you will get more money to spend on your Anime figurines and kawaii souvenirs.
As of 23 September 2022, the conversion rate is S$1 to 101.10 yen. This has never happened throughout history.
Before the pandemic, it was around S$1 for 79.81 yen.
Reasons for The Decline in Value of the Japanese Yen
The sudden decline is mainly because the central bank in Japan is keeping its interest rates at rock-bottom levels while other central banks are conducting increased rates.
The Bank of Japan believes that it needs to minimise inflation after years of deflation.
The other reason that the Yen is so low is that the US is moving towards higher interest rates while Japanese rates remain low. Hence, this makes it more attractive for investors due to the dollar-denominated assets.
Featured Image: Shutterstock.com (Aeypix & FreelySky)