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Japanese Yen (JPY)

The yen (JPY) is the official currency of Japan and the third most traded currency in the world. It was introduced in 1871 and is issued by the Bank of Japan; in practice it has no circulating subunit, so yen amounts are written as whole numbers.

Updated Sep 19, 2026, 12:02 AM

JPY
From
To

Converted amount

0.55 EUR

1 JPY = 0.005547 EUR · 1 EUR = 180.262 JPY

JPYEUR

Updated Sep 19, 2026, 12:02 AM

JPY against the major currencies

The figure shown is the mid-market rate: the midpoint between the buy and sell price, updated hourly. It is the rate before any margin is added, so a bank or a bureau de change will quote you a lower one.

About the Japanese Yen

The New Currency Act of 1871 replaced the tangled system of the Edo period, where domains issued their own paper and coins circulated by weight, with a single decimal unit. The yen was originally divided into 100 sen and 1000 rin, but those units lost all purchasing power to post-war inflation and were withdrawn from circulation in 1953. The character used for yen, 円, means round, after the shape of the coins that replaced the old oval and rectangular ones.

Japan's decades of very low interest rates gave the yen a particular role in global finance: investors borrowed cheaply in yen to buy higher-yielding assets elsewhere, a trade that unwinds sharply whenever markets turn, which is why the yen tends to strengthen in periods of stress. The Ministry of Finance, not the Bank of Japan alone, decides on intervention in the currency market.

The yen is the sole legal tender of Japan and is not the official currency of any other country, though central banks around the world hold it as one of the main reserve currencies.

JPY at a glance

Symbol
¥ (円)
Subunit
None in circulation; the sen was withdrawn in 1953
Central bank
Bank of Japan, founded in 1882
Introduced
1871, by the New Currency Act
ISO 4217 code
JPY

FAQ

What is the Japanese yen?

The yen is the official currency of Japan, written JPY under the ISO 4217 standard and shown with the ¥ sign or the character 円. It was introduced in 1871 and is issued by the Bank of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the world, after the US dollar and the euro.

Why are yen amounts written without decimals?

The yen's subunits, the sen and the rin, were withdrawn from circulation in 1953 after post-war inflation made them worthless. Since then the yen is the smallest unit in use, so prices and conversions are shown as whole numbers. A converted amount in yen with two decimal places is a formatting artefact, not a sum anyone can pay.

Why does the yen strengthen when markets fall?

Japan is a large net creditor to the rest of the world and yen borrowing costs have long been among the lowest anywhere, so investors routinely borrow in yen to invest elsewhere. When markets turn risky those positions are closed and the borrowed yen bought back, which pushes the currency up. It is a flow effect, not a judgement on the Japanese economy.

Follow the JPY from your phone

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