I'm taking the family to Japan over Thanksgiving. I spent about 9 months in Iwakuni, Japan back in the early 1990s during my time in the US Marine Corps. Iwakuni is a small town about 25 miles south of Hiroshima. If all goes well, I take the kids to see firsthand what an atomic bomb can do to a city. (Do you think the A-Bomb was a silver lining for the Japanese economy?)
However, before we go, I'll want to get some Japanese Yen. Fortunately, Seoul has no shortage of money exchangers. Here's the situation: I gave the money exchanger $300 and asked for Yen. I was given 24,400 Yen and 3,500 Korean Won. Apparently, the smallest Japanese Yen bill they deal with is 100 Yen.
Here's your homework. At 1 USD to 1,088 Won, what was the USD to YEN exchange rate I received? (I want to know how much Yen $1 buys)
I no math genius, but here goes: With the Won to USD exchange rate of 1,088, I got $3.22 in Won, leaving me with $296.78. Exchanging this amount for 24,400 Yen gives me an exchange rate of abut 82 Yen to USD. That's a poor rate.
ReplyDeleteBack in 1990, the rate was more like 120 Yen to 1 USD.
Here's a question for Prof J: why did the Yen strengthen (~30%) relative to the USD?