Why This Topic Landed in Japan

The level came back within days of intervention, so the question moved from the exchange rate to whether the tool works at all. A photograph of an actual receipt then arrived to convert the number into something people could feel. Because currency weakness, US inflation and airport-specific pricing were folded into one story, much of the argument was about which of the three anyone was actually talking about.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Disappointment at the intervention dominated the currency thread — The heaviest strand held that intervention is not working and that the sums spent are not buying anything, with the cost cited repeatedly.
  • The exchange rate as a scorecard for the government — Close behind, posts compared this round with earlier intervention and used the result to judge the prime minister's competence.
  • "That's airport pricing and US inflation" — On the price thread the pushback was about as thick as the pessimism: airport shops are expensive everywhere, and this is a US inflation problem rather than a yen problem.
  • The long view, used as a needle — A smaller group pointed to the 360-yen era or noted that the country has been declared finished for twenty years.

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

Back to 160 to the dollar after intervention

The yen returned to the 160 level despite a round of yen-buying intervention shortly beforehand.

Sources: 2ch

Comments:

  • "The yen is finished now."
  • "Intervention really is meaningless at this point."
  • "Japan dumps US Treasuries."
  • "Waaah. I thought this would happen but FX scared me so I stayed out."
  • "Well, it held for a month. I'll give them credit for the effort."
  • "Seriously, what do we do about this trash currency?"
  • "Kishida went from 160 to 145 with intervention. Takaichi spent twice as much and it's still 160, lol. The competence of the greatest PM in history and the incompetence of the worst are both on full display."
  • "What a hollow way to spend money. The government says it will intervene and the selling still doesn't stop. Sad currency."
  • "Everyone in the world, please don't hate the yen."
  • "11 trillion yen melting away every time they intervene. I could cry."

Water and a cookie for about 2,400 yen at a US airport

A post about paying roughly 2,400 yen for water and a cookie at a US airport spread under the line "the yen is finished."

氏長者
氏長者
@Ponkich3
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米国から帰国の岸谷蘭丸氏　空港での「水とクッキー」の値段明かし「日本円、終わり」(デイリースポーツ) u.lin.ee/QRgAbMW?mediad…

news.line.me米国から帰国の岸谷蘭丸氏　空港での「水とクッキー」の値段明かし「日本円、終わり」（デイリースポーツ）　俳優・岸谷五朗を父に、歌手・岸谷香を母に持ち、海外留学を手がける会社を経営している岸谷蘭丸氏（２５）が２８日、自身のＳＮＳでアメリカ・カリフォルニアからの帰国を報告した。　インス
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Sources: Yahoo! news, 2ch

Comments:

  • "America is the one that's finished. It's a world where anyone without money dies instantly."
  • "It's a luxury item, right?"
  • "Japan is finished every single day."
  • "Eight dollars for water? Sounds like California is the one that's finished."
  • "In Japan the water would be free."
  • "America just failed at economic policy and caused inflation, that's all."
  • "Buy a drink and a snack at Disney and it comes to about that."
  • "This country has been called finished for twenty years now."
  • "Airports are expensive in Japan too."
  • "Does this kid not know there was a time when a dollar was 360 yen?"