Time for a holiday? Weak Japanese yen draws crowds to money changers

For those contemplating a year-end trip to Japan, now might be the time to pull the trigger. 

On Monday (Oct 2), the Japanese yen hit a low of 109.66 against the Singapore dollar, reported Shin Min Daily News. 

The dip in the value of Japanese currency has resulted in local money changers seeing brisk business over the past week. 

When a reporter from Shin Min visited some money changers near Raffles Place on Monday afternoon, many of them were offering Japanese yen at the exchange rate of 108.50. One of them was selling Japanese yen at 108.60.

The boss of City Money Changer at Collyer Quay told the Chinese daily that Japanese yen has always been a popular currency among his customers. 

He's also had one or two customers change amounts of up to $10,000 every month.

Most recently, he's also noticed an increase in the number of customers buying Japanese yen. 

"About 30 per cent of them come to buy Japanese yen, and they minimally exchange $1,000 each time," he said. 

Over at People's Park Complex in Chinatown, the owner of Crante Money Changer, surnamed Huang, also noticed a similar trend. 

She told Shin Min that more than 50 customers came to buy Japanese yen over the weekend — twice the usual number. 

Huang added she believes that the increase in demand for Japanese yen could partly be due to the lucrative exchange rate, as well as the presence of travel agencies in the vicinity. 

Travelers buying currency ahead of holidays 

One retiree surnamed Zhang, 72, who will be traveling to Japan next month, told Shin Min that he still has about 300,000 yen leftover from his previous trip. 

However, he decided to buy more Japanese yen due to the recent exchange rate. 

Another traveler surnamed Huang, estimates that he'll spend about $2,000 during his trip to Japan. 

Taking advantage of the good exchange rate, Huang said he changed about $1,000 in cash and intends to use his YouTrip card for the other $1,000. 

READ ALSO: Currency crunch: How to make use of weakening currencies to further your travel plans

claudiatan@asiaone.com