Photo/Illutration Foreign visitors in an arrival lobby at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport’s Terminal 3 on April 30 (Kaede Sano)

A marked difference in mood was evident between incoming and outgoing travelers at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 30, the first weekday of the Golden Week holidays.

With the yen falling to near 34-year lows, foreign tourists were entering Japan with spending sprees in mind.

On the other hand, many Japanese were griping about higher costs and planning to tighten their purse-strings on their trips overseas.

At a foreign exchange counter at the international departure area in Terminal 3 of Haneda Airport, one U.S. dollar cost 163.28 yen, including handling fees.

A 45-year-old company employee from Kawasaki was there checking in for a flight to Taiwan with his family.

He said he has traveled often to Taiwan. He arranged the family trip in February, including booking the same hotel where they had stayed before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pre-pandemic travel expenses totaled about 300,000 yen. But now, the costs reached about 450,000 yen.

“I felt the price was 20 to 30 percent higher than before,” he said. “But domestic travel destinations are full of foreign visitors, and in some places, even domestic travel is expensive.”

Keita Kawamoto, 20, a university student from Nagoya, was checking in for a flight to Canada, where he will study for three months.

He initially planned to study abroad for about one year, but the yen’s depreciation forced him to shorten the stay.

Kawamoto also said the home-stay costs have risen significantly from previous years, and the total expense this time will be about 1.5 million yen.

20240501-yen-L
A currency exchange counter at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on April 30 (Kaede Sano)

“I think I’ll be fine, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get by with only the money I have prepared,” he said.

Riku Kimura, 24, a company employee who lives in Kanagawa Prefecture, landed at Haneda Airport after a four-day trip to Hong Kong.

Although the yen had continued to slide, Kimura decided to take the trip with friends.

The trip cost 240,000 yen per person because it came during a major holiday period.

Kimura expressed “shock” at having to pay the equivalent of 400 yen for a 500-milliliter bottle of water in Hong Kong.

“Because Hong Kong is nearby, we could get by even though it was a little expensive,” Kimura said.

Kimura said it would likely be impossible to travel to Europe or the United States nowadays with the yen so low.

“Even if I did, I would only be able to travel in extreme poverty,” Kimura said.

Also in the international arrivals area, a 28-year-old American tourist said he plans to travel to Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto over 21 days with his friend from college.

He said he will stay at high-end hotels, taking advantage of the depreciated yen.

“The weak yen is a big advantage for those of us from overseas,” he said.

He said he had spent five hours every day studying Japanese since four years ago. His first trip to Japan has been a long-cherished dream.

“In order to enjoy Japan to the fullest, I wanted to splurge,” he said.

The cost of the trip per person is about $10,000 he said.

“At this price, I could not afford to stay at high-end hotels before. But thanks to the weak yen, now I had a choice,” he said.

He said he is looking forward to buying clothes in Tokyo’s Harajuku. “I am glad that there are more things that I can do in Japan.”

According to Holiday Money Report 2024, published by Post Office, a postal and money transfer business in Britain, Tokyo is now the fourth least expensive overseas travel destination for Britons.

The report compared 40 destinations around the world in terms of prices for products often purchased while traveling, such as coffee and beer.

The cheapest destination was Hoi An in Vietnam, followed by Cape Town in South Africa and Mombasa in Kenya, according to the report.

Related News