Word: yen
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...week the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had to rush to rescue the once proud pound from sinking below $1 in value. The pound has always been something of an anomaly in international currency markets. While it takes several deutsche marks or French francs, and hundreds of Japanese yen, to equal one U.S. dollar, the British pound is the only major Western currency worth more than a dollar. In 1949 a pound was worth $4.03, and as recently...
Keep soap operas in the family. Of all the flops of last fall, perhaps the most unexpected was ABC's Paper Dolls. Set in the chic world of New York modeling, the series seemed expertly designed to satisfy the audience's yen for opulent-looking trash. But viewers responded with a gigantic yawn. The show's failure must have caused some nervous gulps at rival NBC, which was busily preparing a glossy soap set in the chic world of New York retailing. Oops...
...billion, up from $20 billion in 1981. In trade with the U.S. alone last year, Japan had a $30 billion surplus. One reason for that startling imbalance is the lofty value of the U.S. dollar. Partly because of high American interest rates, the dollar has risen 30% against the yen since 1978. That has made Japanese imports cheaper for U.S. shoppers, and American exports more expensive in Japan. Economists think the dollar may decline a bit over the next year or two, but not nearly enough to erase Japan's surplus. In fact, some Japanese trade experts predict that their...
...years the face of Shotoku, the prince of sagely virtue who drafted Japan's first constitution more than a dozen centuries ago, has calmly but sternly graced Japanese bank notes. But the prince is being deposed. On Nov. 1, he will be replaced on 10,000 yen notes (about $40) by a more modern figure, Yukichi Fukuzawa, an important figure in the Westernization of Japan in the 19th century. On 5,000 yen bills, where Shotoku had also ruled, goes Inazo Nitobe, an official in the old League of Nations. The new face on a 1 ,000 yen note...
...current bank notes were around for so long they had become an easy target for counterfeiters. The new ones will be tougher to fake. They each have a spray of colors, 15 for the 10,000 yen note alone, and larger watermarks. For the blind, they will bear their value in braille. One problem with the new bills is that vending machines, where the Japanese buy everything from railroad tickets to whisky, will have to be converted to accept the new currency...