Japanese yen exchange rate – JPY/PLN

The Japanese yen became the official currency of Japan in 1871, under reforms carried out by Emperor Mutsuhito. This was the beginning of the Meiji era, a period in which Japan moved away from the feudal system and underwent a series of political, economic and social reforms. The introduction of the JPY was one of these, intended to lead to a Western-style modernisation of the country. With the new currency, citizens were able to conduct trade transactions more easily and the national economy stabilised. Initially, the yen exchange rate was based on the gold standard. This idea was abandoned after the end of the World War I, mainly due to the need to cover war-related expenses. When an attempt was made to return to the gold standard in 1929, it ended in an economic crisis, which was also influenced by the US stock market crash. After the World War II, the yen was pegged to the US dollar under the Bretton Woods system, at a rate of 360 yen per 1 dollar. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, Japan moved to a floating exchange rate system. The JPY initially gained significantly in value, from which Japanese exports suffered. The government and the Bank of Japan began to regularly intervene in the foreign exchange market and fight inflation. In 2016, Japan introduced a negative interest rate policy. This meant that commercial banks had to pay to store surplus capital at the Bank of Japan, which was supposed to encourage more borrowing and stimulate the economy.

There are coins in circulation with denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen. The obverses of the coins feature distinctive national symbols of Japan, such as cherry blossoms (100 yen) or bamboo (500 yen). Some coins have a hole in the centre, which is said to bring good luck and prosperity. JPY banknotes come in denominations of 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10 000 yen. On their front side, we can see the faces of important figures in Japanese history, such as Fukuzawa Yukichi, the Japanese thinker and philosopher on the banknote (10 000 JPY) or the writer, Ichiyo Yuguchi, who depicted the lives of women in Japan in her works (5000 JPY). On the back of the banknotes, you can see images related to local nature and culture, such as on the 1000 yen banknote, Mount Fuji and the sakura, a flowering cherry tree that is a symbol of Japan, and on the 2000 JPY banknote –an excerpt from „The Tale of Genji”, a painting by Murasaka Shikibu. Today, the Japanese yen is one of the most widely used reserve currencies in the world, alongside the US dollar, the euro and the British pound. It is the currency in which central banks hold part of their reserves.