The supermarket receipt keeps getting longer, but the bank balance has not gone down. That gap – nothing lost on paper, less that you can actually buy – is what is happening in Japan today.
This article sorts the causes of higher prices into four, explains what it means to hold only yen, and describes how crypto assets can be used to protect purchasing power.
It is written for individuals and small business owners who want to know how rising prices reach their own money. As of September 2026.
Four reasons, not one
Prices did not rise for a single reason. Four forces piled up on top of each other from 2022 onwards.
- A weaker yen. The interest-rate gap between Japan and the United States widened, and the yen was sold. For a country that imports most of its energy and much of its food, that turns directly into higher costs.
- Energy. Roughly 90% of Japan’s primary energy is imported. Tension in the Middle East during 2026 pushed crude oil higher, and that reaches electricity bills and freight costs.
- Food. Japan’s calorie-based food self-sufficiency ratio is about 38%. Higher prices for wheat, cooking oil and animal feed showed up as price revisions in processed food and restaurants.
- Labour and logistics. Pay rises to secure staff, plus the overtime cap on truck drivers that took effect in 2024, have pushed up the cost of moving anything.
What the four have in common is a single structure: prices are set outside Japan and paid for in yen. Whatever cannot be absorbed at home ends up on the price tag.
Holding only yen: what it buys slowly shrinks
If prices rise 3% a year for three years, something that used to cost 1,000,000 yen costs about 1,090,000 yen.
Leave the money in an ordinary deposit account paying almost no interest, and the balance has not fallen by a single yen – but what it buys has fallen by roughly 8%.
This loss is never displayed anywhere. A crypto asset’s price moves on screen, so gains and losses are obvious. A loss of purchasing power in yen is easy to miss, because the price tag is the thing that moves.
That is why it is easy to look at an unchanged balance and conclude that nothing is wrong.
What you can do: hold the currency you are going to pay in
One method is to receive, and pay, part of what flows to and from overseas counterparties in USDC – a stablecoin designed to track the US dollar.
Instead of converting those dollars back into yen, spend them on the next payment abroad. That removes the yen to dollar to yen round trip, and in a weak-yen period it avoids the spread and fees of that trip.
The steps are simple:
- 1. Decide the amount. At the end of each month, write down how much you expect to pay in dollars next month. Only that amount is in scope.
- 2. Prepare USDC. Obtain USDC through an exchange or a crypto wallet, and keep only the expected payment amount there.
- 3. Pay with it. Send it to the counterparty’s wallet when the time comes. Settlement takes minutes rather than banking days.
If the expected payment changes, adjust the amount the following month rather than topping up in advance. The point is to match what you hold to what you will spend, not to hold more.
✅ What tends to work
Holding only the amount earmarked for overseas payments in USDC fixes that budget in dollars even while the yen weakens.
Compared with converting to yen and buying dollars again later, it also tends to cost less in conversion and transfer fees.
⚠️ Common pitfalls
Accepting payment in a volatile crypto asset instead of USDC. If the planned spending date slips and the price falls in the meantime, the payment loses value in yen terms.
When the goal is protecting purchasing power, choosing something that does not move comes first.
There are caveats. A stablecoin is low-volatility, not risk-free. It depends on the credibility of the issuer, the network you choose, and your own wallet management – above all, where you keep your recovery phrase.
This is not about moving living expenses or working capital. Hold, in dollars, the money you already expect to pay in dollars. That is the realistic scope.
What to keep an eye on
Where prices go next is explained fairly well by three things. You do not need to follow them daily; skimming the headlines once a month is enough.
- The exchange rate. If the Bank of Japan raises rates and the US cuts, the pressure on the yen eases. If the gap stays wide, import prices stay high.
- Wages against prices. If pay rises outrun price rises, real living standards improve. If they do not, a bigger number on the payslip does not make life easier.
- Energy and geopolitics. Middle East tension feeds straight into crude oil, and from there into electricity, fuel, freight and anything made from petroleum.
None of the three is something an individual can move. That is why it is more practical to decide in advance how to hold money so that either direction is manageable, rather than trying to predict which way it goes.
Who this changes things for
If you are salaried, paid in yen, and buy almost everything in yen, the practical step is smaller than it sounds. Know that the deposit account is not neutral, and decide consciously how much stays there.
Leaving things as they are is also a decision. It is simply not one most people make on purpose.
A simple first check: look at last month’s card statement and mark anything charged in dollars. If nothing is, holding yen alone may be the right answer for you.
If you run a small business, the effect is larger, because costs and revenue can sit in different currencies.
A studio paying for overseas cloud services in dollars while invoicing clients in yen feels a weaker yen twice – once in the software bill, and again in freight and materials.
Listing which costs are settled in a foreign currency, and roughly what they add up to in a year, usually takes an afternoon. It turns “prices are up” into a number you can plan around.
Common questions
Q. Aren’t crypto assets far too volatile?
A. Some are, such as Bitcoin. Others, such as USDC, are designed to track the dollar. For protecting purchasing power you want the latter. Keep it separate from the question of chasing gains.
Q. How much do I need to start?
A. A few thousand yen is enough to move. The amount matters less than doing the sending and receiving once with your own hands. Start with a sum you would not miss.
Q. Is holding yen simply wrong now?
A. No. If you live in Japan and most of your spending is in yen, it is natural for yen to be the core. What is worth reviewing is money you already know you will pay in dollars, left sitting in yen.
In closing: this ends up being a question of where money sits
Higher prices in Japan come from a weak yen, energy, food and labour shortages arriving together, and they are unlikely to reverse quickly.
What an individual can do is not stop the price tags from moving but choose where money sits. You do not need to move everything. Start by writing down what you expect to pay in dollars next month.
💡 To check what your yen is worth in dollar terms
Crypto Rate Viewer converts between Japanese yen and crypto assets such as USDC, and shows yen-denominated price history. No account is needed.
The figures are reference prices. An actual exchange uses the trading venue’s price and fees.
(This article is based on information as of 15 September 2026. Crypto assets move sharply in price and you may lose the money you put in. Nothing here recommends buying or selling any particular crypto asset)
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