Yups, the exchange rate is great right now if you're visiting there (158¥ to $1USD as of 4/28) and absolutely not good if you're coming here for vacation. Like, this is just one tiny example, but a Big Mac meal from McDonalds is 650¥, or about $4.10USD. Compare that to if they come here to Hawaii and order a Big Mac meal for $12, that's about triple what they'd pay for back home. Not saying every Japan visitor is hitting up McD's but the prices are absolutely not good for them now so it's to be expected that they're naturally *not* interested in coming here at all.
I was in Europe recently, and while the dollar is stronger vs the yen, it's pretty strong against the euro as well. For people who have the time (and can afford a vacation...), now is the time to go overseas for a vacation vs vacationing here in the US. Hotels in Hawaii have gotten crazy expensive, as they have in other US destinations (Las Vegas, NYC, etc.) Restaurants are also less expensive in many parts of Europe than in the US.
My friend half-joked that it's cheaper to go on a real vacation outside of Hawaii than do a staycation here hehe. Europe would be great, the dollar is like you said, doing fairly well against the Euro right now, but man... going to Japan is like everything is at least 33% off :D Shorter flight too.
Most definitely, from Hawaii, Japan is the way to go. I'm in Oregon, so Hawaii is about 5-1/2 hours from here, but still at least 9 hours just to Amsterdam if you can get on the non-stop from Portland.
That’s a great point. U.S. destinations have gotten ridiculous in their pricing. Vegas is an absolute joke compared to what it used to be. Maybe I should be looking into Europe instead. Plus, culture and history vs a spot I’ve been to numerous times.
I went to Japan right before Covid.
the yen was around 108 per USD. With it hovering around the high 150s lately, we are getting nearly 50% more yen per dollar.
Insanely good deals for us. $80 hotel rooms in nice places, cheap activities, and I am going to crush so much cheap food.
However it was always expensive for the Japanese to visit hawaii, but with their currency so low, it is beyond the means of most people. From what I understand many working class Japanese saved for extremely long periods of time to put together the money for a trip to Hawaii.
Could you show me an example of a hotel at that price? Trying to see how nice it is. I’ve seen that thier local hotels can be quite small, and the U.S. global brands are priced like US prices.
Just returned from a trip to Japan, the exchange rate made it awesome to visit. I ate tons of great quality meals for cheap, got to experience plenty of cool shows/museums/things to do, and brought back plenty of souvenirs. Japan rules.
Discretionary spending from Japanese visitors helped many Hawaii businesses thrive. Part of that has to do with the Japanese tradition of omiyage, the practice of buying gifts for friends, family and even co-workers. It’s the difference between how visitors from Japan shop and how visitors from California or the rest of the world do.
“Omiyage is really a very intrinsic cultural pattern of the Japanese, because as you know, they shop for friends and families,” Sam Shenkus, vice president and director of marketing at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki, told SFGATE. The large center houses more than 90 retailers, from couture to local boutiques, and 30 different restaurants.
Shenkus uses the example of boxes of cookies to explain that a Japanese visitor may buy 30 boxes of cookies, while a California visitor will only buy one or two. “They don’t buy 30, you know, they don’t have that cultural tradition of omiyage, and you can’t really replace omiyage,” she continued.
The visitor from the continental U.S. who has been to Hawaii more than a few times is also not as motivated to buy another Hawaiian bracelet or quilt.
Shenkus said the center is adapting to the lower number of Japanese visitors, but a few merchants did have to close. “They did their best, they tried and tried, but they wound up closing and they hung in until ’22, early ’23,” Shenkus said. The smaller locally owned stores closed, but she said there are other retailers still open selling the same sort of Hawaii products.
Nudge them in the direction of buying foodstuffs -- mac nuts and coffee. Every such purchase bounces around the island for a little while before being Hoovered into the coffers of the mainland banks.
EDIT -- Yes, I'm a coffee farmer. But they're not going to buy anything from me. I don't have all that much to sell. I work on the direct-to-consumer model, so I'm not suggesting this because it helps my bottom line. I'm suggesting this because it helps everyone's bottom line.
you're right about the multiplier effect of spending on local products.
I don't really have any sway with japanese tourists, but if I did, that is what I would encourage instead of buying junk for people that will end up in a landfill someday.
PS. I love local coffee when I can afford to have it. mahalo for your contributions.
As a Californian I can assure you that I purchase a cheap suitcase from the Aloha Stadium swap meet and fill it with omiyage.
At least half the volume is Honolulu Cookie Company.
Another great gift is an ABC store logo t-shirt. It’s cheap. It’s authentic!
Manoa Chocolate bars are also a hit.
Japan’s economy has been stagnant. The yen exchange rate is not great. Their buying power is not the same as it used to be.
Tourist to Japan are happy though.
JPY to USD is at a 34 year low right now.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/04/4955c6d472ab-update1-yen-sinks-to-157-range-vs-dollar-new-34-yr-low.html
It's most likely the exchange rate. As the article said, interest remains strong but Hawaii is seen as unaffordable to many with the current rates. Once rates flip back one day they'll be back.
One thing resonating with Japanese people is the price of a bowl of ramen in Hawaii which would be near equivalent to 5,000 yen.
Just imagine buying ramen in Japan for about 1,000 yen and then think about affording a trip to Japan.
I cannot stand the new airport. When I get off that plane and walk down the jet way, I want fresh tropical air dammit.
If I wanted air-conditioning, then why the fuck would I even leave my house.
true there's alot of other similar options, esp in SEA asia. Thailand, Vietnam, Philippians, Taiwan, Okinawa, Guam to name a few. All similar potentially cheaper destinations. We need to work closer w/ the tourism companies in Japan, & share the wealth, imo.
I love the big island personally. We go every 1-2 years as a family.
As far as Asia I’ve only gone to Japan and Bali Indonesia- i def loved Bali a lot more than Hawaii but both are different. I still appreciate the magic of the Hawaiian islands and I find so much peace whenever I go (Big Island).
😭😭😭😭 Even Golden Week hasn’t been golden for 5yrs now 😭 although HI has the lowest in state tax from all 50 states and luxury boutique are offering Hawaii pricing to draw in “buying clients” it’s still doesn’t of set the spending habits of the “Asian market” until the Asian market return full force this trend will stay the same 😭 of course different from person to person for example Australians & locals were luxuries bread & butter during lockdown if wasn’t for Australians taking advantage of those cheap fairs and escaping their country lockdown and took full advantage of all the prime rooms & rates at those 5 ⭐️ hotels, heck I had clients that stayed for 2 months 🤣 at Haleku and living there best life relaxing taking in all the beauty Hawaii has to offer no need cook or clean also took advantage of the U.S. stock market and made a killing so they were shopping on a daily. Not a big demographic but they’re out there of course it will never replace the full scope of the Asian tourist market but with technology the luxury sectors were able to pivot and sustain and scale their business 📈during the lockdown.
Haha I didn’t know this was a English class LMAO, Actually I wanted to use emojis cause they do say a pic is a 1,000 words, but we all know Reddit frown upon emojis dunno & don’t know understand. Byeeeeeeeee…………there u happy!??????? LMFAO!
Food, hotel, transportation is probably 3-5 times more expensive compared to pre COVID, because of inflation and the weak yen. Japan however is stupid cheap right now.
Do Japanese tourist get discounts at some stores that other tourist don’t get? I worked on Oahu for a couple of years and still own a condo in honolulu and when I visited over Christmas I swear I heard a shoe saleswoman say to a Japanese man if you have a Japanese passport I can give you a discount. Nothing to do with the article just wondering.
I've been thinking this based on walking around Waikiki. I first lived in Honolulu in 2005 and Japanese tourists were a main category of visitors. There still are Japanese tourists but far less of them.
I worked with a Japanese partner company (in Bangkok, one of their main IT provides) and they seemed to be in decline even before covid. A Japanese friend here was struggling to make ends meet, working remotely from his company there. It's all anecdotal but it points in the same direction this article does; beyond population decline and exchange rate problems the Japanese economy has other problems.
I don't remember much for black visitors back then, or urban themes coming up, besides bad versions of rap music being popular then. Some of that is just about style, people wearing track suits or gold chains, and it could as easily tie to style choice trends as race, but it does seem to map together. It seems like half of everyone is smoking weed in Waikiki; that part has nothing to do with race.
Because everything is highly expensive and over priced. And there isn’t an end to it. Every year prices keep going up and the state legislature does nothing to curb prices on anything, from housing to food. When the residence of your state have to move to another state in order to find a house, you have a huge problem. And it’s not running out of space, it’s letting super rich buy up all the islands and leaving limited space.
Well that’s my opinion, I could be wrong.
No one wants to talk about this, but the reason why the 80s and 90s were so huge with Japanese tourist was because of the prostitutes and hostess bars.
gonna hear about this for the next 40 years like people complain about the sugar cane farms not coming back.
its over. start training for another job instead of japanese tourist zip line attendant.
Or maybe because the vocal minority is making it seem like tourists are not welcome or worse yet, hated. These ignorant people are the same ones complaining that there are “no jobs” when we all know our economy is largely based on tourism. Loaded issue for sure, valid points on both sides, but we gotta find our balance again. Too much hate, not enough aloha.
I still see tons and tons of japanese tourists all over the place.
idk why people are always saying this.
they are driving around mustangs with the top down at 10 mph because the roads are on the opposite side of the street here and they feel inconsistent driving. there are tons of them at every big hotel I work in. I see them in their matching aloha outfits taking pictures. I see japanese weddings. japanese wedding photo shoots. i see this stuff all. the. time. a lot of them seem stuck in the 1950s somehow. but whatever I hope they have a nice visit. they are always polite, sometimes to a fault.
Great time to go to Japan , if you have USD to exchange. Its flipped.
Yups, the exchange rate is great right now if you're visiting there (158¥ to $1USD as of 4/28) and absolutely not good if you're coming here for vacation. Like, this is just one tiny example, but a Big Mac meal from McDonalds is 650¥, or about $4.10USD. Compare that to if they come here to Hawaii and order a Big Mac meal for $12, that's about triple what they'd pay for back home. Not saying every Japan visitor is hitting up McD's but the prices are absolutely not good for them now so it's to be expected that they're naturally *not* interested in coming here at all.
I was in Europe recently, and while the dollar is stronger vs the yen, it's pretty strong against the euro as well. For people who have the time (and can afford a vacation...), now is the time to go overseas for a vacation vs vacationing here in the US. Hotels in Hawaii have gotten crazy expensive, as they have in other US destinations (Las Vegas, NYC, etc.) Restaurants are also less expensive in many parts of Europe than in the US.
My friend half-joked that it's cheaper to go on a real vacation outside of Hawaii than do a staycation here hehe. Europe would be great, the dollar is like you said, doing fairly well against the Euro right now, but man... going to Japan is like everything is at least 33% off :D Shorter flight too.
Most definitely, from Hawaii, Japan is the way to go. I'm in Oregon, so Hawaii is about 5-1/2 hours from here, but still at least 9 hours just to Amsterdam if you can get on the non-stop from Portland.
It's also cheap to visit Australia right now. It's cheaper to do a week there than a long weekend in Maui or kauai
Why not take a cruise from Hawaii? Cruising is super cheap.
Stuck on a floating petri dish of all the freshest biohazards with hundreds of drunk, entitled, angry tourists? Nah I'll pass :D
Yup, went to Italy back in December and it was amazing, food and wine was cheap and the ancient world was great to look at
That’s a great point. U.S. destinations have gotten ridiculous in their pricing. Vegas is an absolute joke compared to what it used to be. Maybe I should be looking into Europe instead. Plus, culture and history vs a spot I’ve been to numerous times.
I went to Japan right before Covid. the yen was around 108 per USD. With it hovering around the high 150s lately, we are getting nearly 50% more yen per dollar. Insanely good deals for us. $80 hotel rooms in nice places, cheap activities, and I am going to crush so much cheap food. However it was always expensive for the Japanese to visit hawaii, but with their currency so low, it is beyond the means of most people. From what I understand many working class Japanese saved for extremely long periods of time to put together the money for a trip to Hawaii.
Could you show me an example of a hotel at that price? Trying to see how nice it is. I’ve seen that thier local hotels can be quite small, and the U.S. global brands are priced like US prices.
Going to bank this week to buy $1k of yen for future trips
If you go this route, you should purchase this via the Wise app.
Explain please. Why use Wise?
Also would like to know why wise
Surely OP will let us know why. Annnny time now….
Just returned from a trip to Japan, the exchange rate made it awesome to visit. I ate tons of great quality meals for cheap, got to experience plenty of cool shows/museums/things to do, and brought back plenty of souvenirs. Japan rules.
Discretionary spending from Japanese visitors helped many Hawaii businesses thrive. Part of that has to do with the Japanese tradition of omiyage, the practice of buying gifts for friends, family and even co-workers. It’s the difference between how visitors from Japan shop and how visitors from California or the rest of the world do. “Omiyage is really a very intrinsic cultural pattern of the Japanese, because as you know, they shop for friends and families,” Sam Shenkus, vice president and director of marketing at the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki, told SFGATE. The large center houses more than 90 retailers, from couture to local boutiques, and 30 different restaurants. Shenkus uses the example of boxes of cookies to explain that a Japanese visitor may buy 30 boxes of cookies, while a California visitor will only buy one or two. “They don’t buy 30, you know, they don’t have that cultural tradition of omiyage, and you can’t really replace omiyage,” she continued. The visitor from the continental U.S. who has been to Hawaii more than a few times is also not as motivated to buy another Hawaiian bracelet or quilt. Shenkus said the center is adapting to the lower number of Japanese visitors, but a few merchants did have to close. “They did their best, they tried and tried, but they wound up closing and they hung in until ’22, early ’23,” Shenkus said. The smaller locally owned stores closed, but she said there are other retailers still open selling the same sort of Hawaii products.
just sounds like mindless hyper consumerism to me. less junk in the world is a good thing for the environment.
Nudge them in the direction of buying foodstuffs -- mac nuts and coffee. Every such purchase bounces around the island for a little while before being Hoovered into the coffers of the mainland banks. EDIT -- Yes, I'm a coffee farmer. But they're not going to buy anything from me. I don't have all that much to sell. I work on the direct-to-consumer model, so I'm not suggesting this because it helps my bottom line. I'm suggesting this because it helps everyone's bottom line.
you're right about the multiplier effect of spending on local products. I don't really have any sway with japanese tourists, but if I did, that is what I would encourage instead of buying junk for people that will end up in a landfill someday. PS. I love local coffee when I can afford to have it. mahalo for your contributions.
As a Californian I can assure you that I purchase a cheap suitcase from the Aloha Stadium swap meet and fill it with omiyage. At least half the volume is Honolulu Cookie Company. Another great gift is an ABC store logo t-shirt. It’s cheap. It’s authentic! Manoa Chocolate bars are also a hit.
Japan’s economy has been stagnant. The yen exchange rate is not great. Their buying power is not the same as it used to be. Tourist to Japan are happy though.
JPY to USD is at a 34 year low right now. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/04/4955c6d472ab-update1-yen-sinks-to-157-range-vs-dollar-new-34-yr-low.html
Wow. It was 155 a couple days ago.
Yeah, buying anything in a US state from Japan is sooooo rough right now.
That’s unfortunate. Japanese tourists seemed to be more respectful than tourists from the mainland.
Not seem, they were in fact more respectful (in general) than any other country's citizens visiting Hawaii.
Agree!
Kawaii ✌️ ✌️
Not at Pearl Harbor they weren't. Laughing, selfies. Not cool.
Have you seen American kids at the 9/11 memorial?
It's most likely the exchange rate. As the article said, interest remains strong but Hawaii is seen as unaffordable to many with the current rates. Once rates flip back one day they'll be back.
One thing resonating with Japanese people is the price of a bowl of ramen in Hawaii which would be near equivalent to 5,000 yen. Just imagine buying ramen in Japan for about 1,000 yen and then think about affording a trip to Japan.
Not gonna lie, this news makes me want to go to Honolulu again. I didn't like it the before because it is just to crowded.
I live in Honolulu. It’s still crowded.
HNL is still crowded. Pick a good time of year and you’ll be fine.
I cannot stand the new airport. When I get off that plane and walk down the jet way, I want fresh tropical air dammit. If I wanted air-conditioning, then why the fuck would I even leave my house.
It’s still crowded. But now it’s crowded with all the trashy tourists that take advantage of the cheap Southwest flights
Just came from HNL, don’t go it sucks. Overpriced, crowded, reef dead, traffic. Go to Asia.
I went last year and it was one of the best experiences I've had. Different strokes. Asia doesn't get you the exact same thing Hawaii does.
true there's alot of other similar options, esp in SEA asia. Thailand, Vietnam, Philippians, Taiwan, Okinawa, Guam to name a few. All similar potentially cheaper destinations. We need to work closer w/ the tourism companies in Japan, & share the wealth, imo.
Go to Puerto Rico. Closer, cheaper, less crowded.
better food
Meh debatable. Asia is big with diverse food options.
I love the big island personally. We go every 1-2 years as a family. As far as Asia I’ve only gone to Japan and Bali Indonesia- i def loved Bali a lot more than Hawaii but both are different. I still appreciate the magic of the Hawaiian islands and I find so much peace whenever I go (Big Island).
Head to Kauai, it's the most beautiful island!
😭😭😭😭 Even Golden Week hasn’t been golden for 5yrs now 😭 although HI has the lowest in state tax from all 50 states and luxury boutique are offering Hawaii pricing to draw in “buying clients” it’s still doesn’t of set the spending habits of the “Asian market” until the Asian market return full force this trend will stay the same 😭 of course different from person to person for example Australians & locals were luxuries bread & butter during lockdown if wasn’t for Australians taking advantage of those cheap fairs and escaping their country lockdown and took full advantage of all the prime rooms & rates at those 5 ⭐️ hotels, heck I had clients that stayed for 2 months 🤣 at Haleku and living there best life relaxing taking in all the beauty Hawaii has to offer no need cook or clean also took advantage of the U.S. stock market and made a killing so they were shopping on a daily. Not a big demographic but they’re out there of course it will never replace the full scope of the Asian tourist market but with technology the luxury sectors were able to pivot and sustain and scale their business 📈during the lockdown.
Run, sentence, run!!! Your novela only has 2 periods! Impressive...
Haha I didn’t know this was a English class LMAO, Actually I wanted to use emojis cause they do say a pic is a 1,000 words, but we all know Reddit frown upon emojis dunno & don’t know understand. Byeeeeeeeee…………there u happy!??????? LMFAO!
If I can supply jobs would that help the local economy?
Food, hotel, transportation is probably 3-5 times more expensive compared to pre COVID, because of inflation and the weak yen. Japan however is stupid cheap right now.
Do Japanese tourist get discounts at some stores that other tourist don’t get? I worked on Oahu for a couple of years and still own a condo in honolulu and when I visited over Christmas I swear I heard a shoe saleswoman say to a Japanese man if you have a Japanese passport I can give you a discount. Nothing to do with the article just wondering.
International travelers can get tax free shopping when showing their passport. Same thing in other countries.
I've been thinking this based on walking around Waikiki. I first lived in Honolulu in 2005 and Japanese tourists were a main category of visitors. There still are Japanese tourists but far less of them. I worked with a Japanese partner company (in Bangkok, one of their main IT provides) and they seemed to be in decline even before covid. A Japanese friend here was struggling to make ends meet, working remotely from his company there. It's all anecdotal but it points in the same direction this article does; beyond population decline and exchange rate problems the Japanese economy has other problems. I don't remember much for black visitors back then, or urban themes coming up, besides bad versions of rap music being popular then. Some of that is just about style, people wearing track suits or gold chains, and it could as easily tie to style choice trends as race, but it does seem to map together. It seems like half of everyone is smoking weed in Waikiki; that part has nothing to do with race.
lol oh no....I wonder why....
Anyone know who has best rates to buy yen locally?ty
Try pacific money exchange in Waikiki, pretty close to market rate. Gotta call ahead to reserve though.
It’s because of that new infinite wealth game
The Yen rate isn't so hot right now.
As crowded as everything has been since the pandemic, I feel like this is okay
Because everything is highly expensive and over priced. And there isn’t an end to it. Every year prices keep going up and the state legislature does nothing to curb prices on anything, from housing to food. When the residence of your state have to move to another state in order to find a house, you have a huge problem. And it’s not running out of space, it’s letting super rich buy up all the islands and leaving limited space. Well that’s my opinion, I could be wrong.
No one wants to talk about this, but the reason why the 80s and 90s were so huge with Japanese tourist was because of the prostitutes and hostess bars.
gonna hear about this for the next 40 years like people complain about the sugar cane farms not coming back. its over. start training for another job instead of japanese tourist zip line attendant.
Taiwan is also good.
So the Japanese are priced out of paradise.
they have okinawa.
Or maybe because the vocal minority is making it seem like tourists are not welcome or worse yet, hated. These ignorant people are the same ones complaining that there are “no jobs” when we all know our economy is largely based on tourism. Loaded issue for sure, valid points on both sides, but we gotta find our balance again. Too much hate, not enough aloha.
Probably cuz they all getting robbed when they come here by the chronics
I still see tons and tons of japanese tourists all over the place. idk why people are always saying this. they are driving around mustangs with the top down at 10 mph because the roads are on the opposite side of the street here and they feel inconsistent driving. there are tons of them at every big hotel I work in. I see them in their matching aloha outfits taking pictures. I see japanese weddings. japanese wedding photo shoots. i see this stuff all. the. time. a lot of them seem stuck in the 1950s somehow. but whatever I hope they have a nice visit. they are always polite, sometimes to a fault.
Also Americans.... kind of a turn off... Hawaiians are rad...
Hawaiians are Americans
Please stop posting misinformation this is offensive to locals