Convert JPY to GBP Japanese yen ↔ Pound sterling Free Online Secure
Type an amount in Japanese yen and read it in Pound sterling at once. The page uses the European Central Bank's reference rate, and tells you which day that rate is from.
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Common amounts — Convert JPY to GBP (Japanese yen ↔ Pound sterling)
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The last thirty days
Where these codes and rates come from
The three letters in EUR, USD or JPY are not an abbreviation someone invented for a website: they are ISO 4217, a standard in which the first two letters are the country's own code and the third is usually the initial of the currency. The figures on this page come from the European Central Bank, which publishes one set of reference rates each working day, around 16:00 Central European time, agreed between the central banks of the Eurosystem. They are a daily snapshot meant for statistics and accounting, not a live trading feed — which is exactly why they are the same number for everyone, rather than whatever one bank happened to quote at one moment.
Where you meet an exchange rate
You meet an exchange rate four or five times a year without thinking about it: booking a trip, paying an invoice issued abroad, buying from a foreign shop, reading a salary offer in another currency, or checking what a card charge really cost. In all of these the reference rate is the honest middle, and the price you actually pay sits a little to one side of it. Knowing the middle is what lets you see how wide that margin is.
Questions people ask
Is this the rate my bank will give me?
No, and no page can promise one. This is the European Central Bank's reference rate: the midpoint published once a day for statistics. A bank, a card scheme or an exchange office adds its own margin on top — usually between half a percent and three percent, sometimes more at an airport counter. Use this figure to judge the offer you are given, not to predict it.
How often does the figure change, and what happens at weekends?
The European Central Bank publishes once each working day, in the afternoon, Central European time. There is no publication on Saturdays, Sundays or TARGET holidays, so on those days the page shows the last working day's rate and says which day it belongs to. The chart alongside is one year of the same daily series.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Where Japan builds cars in Britain, and where Britain sends its visitors to Japan: the yen and the pound in the factory and on the high street
Drive north of Newcastle on the A19 and you reach Sunderland, where one of the most productive car plants in Europe, owned by the Japanese company Nissan, turns out more than a hundred thousand vehicles in a good year. Since 1986, when Nissan began building cars on a former airfield there, Japanese manufacturers have employed tens of thousands of British workers and trained generations of engineers. Toyota still builds engines and cars in Burnaston and Deeside, and Honda built cars in Swindon until 2021. Money moves between the two countries every day: profits flow to Tokyo in yen, wages are paid in Sunderland in pounds, and Japanese visitors spend yen converted to sterling on Harry Potter tours and afternoon tea. This page makes the conversion simple. It takes the European Central Bank's reference rates, in which the yen and the pound are each quoted against the euro, combines them into a yen-to-pound rate, shows the result with the date and keeps your amount in your browser. The text below visits the factory floor and the tourist trail, and each stop is a reason to Convert JPY to GBP and to understand what the figure means.
Using the converter
Yen in, pounds out
For any British price, Convert JPY to GBP in reverse and forward, and the two numbers should agree to the penny.
Type an amount in yen and the page returns the value in pounds sterling, with the date of the rate beneath the result. Because yen amounts are large and pounds small, the result has decimals; read them with care. At weekends the page shows Friday's figure and says so. A table of round amounts and a thirty-day line follow. For pounds into yen, use Convert GBP to JPY.
The rate as a measuring stick
The reference rate is published once each working day. It is the middle of the market, with no margin for a bank or card network. What you actually receive will be a little worse, and the difference is the price of the service. Use the page as a stick to measure it: under one per cent is excellent, two or three per cent is normal for banks, and more than four is a reason to compare. Every time you Convert JPY to GBP here, you obtain the measure.
Floor one: Sunderland and the Nissan story
From airfield to assembly line
Nissan's decision to build a plant in the north-east of England, announced by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984, was a landmark for British industry. It brought new working methods, such as just-in-time supply and team-based production, to a region that had lost shipbuilding and coal mining. The plant has produced millions of cars, including the Micra, Qashqai and Juke, and since 2010 the all-electric Leaf. It employs about 6,000 people directly and many more through suppliers.
Wages and exchange rates
A finance team will Convert JPY to GBP for payroll every quarter and compare the result with the plan.
Workers are paid in pounds, while profits are reported in yen. When the pound falls against the yen, the plant's costs measured in yen go down, making British production cheaper for the parent company. When the pound rises, the opposite occurs. After the 2016 Brexit vote, the pound fell sharply, which reduced costs but raised uncertainty about trade rules. Managers monitor the pair constantly, and Convert JPY to GBP for the budget of a year is a routine task in the finance department.
The supply chain across the water
A car contains thousands of parts, bought from suppliers in Britain, Europe and Japan. Parts bought in yen cost more when the yen is strong. Parts bought in euros depend on the pound-euro rate. A plant therefore deals with several currency pairs at once, and a change in any of them can alter the cost of a car by hundreds of pounds.
Floor two: Burnaston, Deeside and Swindon
Toyota in Derbyshire and Wales
For a plant with costs in pounds and sales in euros and yen, one Convert JPY to GBP is never enough; the team repeats it monthly.
Toyota opened a car factory at Burnaston, near Derby, in 1992, and an engine plant at Deeside in north Wales in 1992. Burnaston makes the Corolla and has built hybrid vehicles. About 3,000 people work there, and the engine plant employs about 500. Toyota's investment brought a culture of continuous improvement, called kaizen, to British manufacturing. A tour of the Burnaston plant is occasionally offered to visitors, and the visitor centre costs little.
Honda's departure
Honda built cars in Swindon from 1992 until 2021, when it closed the plant, citing a reorganisation of production and the costs of post-Brexit trade arrangements. About 3,500 workers lost their jobs, and many more in the supply chain were affected. The closure showed that decisions by multinationals depend on exchange rates, trade deals and demand, and that an investment which lasts thirty years can still end. The site was later sold for logistics use.
Why Japanese firms came to Britain
Japanese manufacturers chose Britain because of English-language skills, low labour costs relative to Germany, a government keen to attract investment and access to the European single market. After Brexit, the last point changed. New investments have gone to other countries, while existing plants continue. Britain's car industry has become more focused on electric vehicles and premium brands.
Street one: London, tea and the Harry Potter trail
What Japanese visitors want to see
For a studio tour or a palace visit, Convert JPY to GBP for the ticket and add the train from central London.
London is a favourite destination for Japanese travellers, with a long list of attractions: Buckingham Palace, the British Museum, Sherlock Holmes's Baker Street, the Beatles' Abbey Road crossing, and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, which draws tens of thousands of Japanese fans of Harry Potter. Admission to the studio tour costs about 50 to 60 pounds, and the journey from central London takes about an hour. A traditional afternoon tea costs 40 to 90 pounds, depending on the hotel. Convert JPY to GBP for the tickets and teas, and the sums come out to a few thousand yen each.
Shopping and tax
Before you buy a coat, Convert JPY to GBP for the tag and compare it with the same coat in a Tokyo department store.
London shops sell British brands that are popular in Japan, such as Burberry coats, Barbour jackets, Liberty prints and Paul Smith clothes. Prices include value-added tax of 20 per cent, and the tax-free shopping scheme for most visitors was abolished in 2021. A Japanese tourist therefore pays the same price as a Briton. The pound's weakness against the yen in some years has made these goods cheaper in yen terms.
Football, tennis and cricket
Japanese footballers play in the Premier League, and Japanese fans travel to see them. A match ticket costs 30 to 120 pounds, depending on the club. At Wimbledon, tickets bought on the day through the queue cost 15 to 30 pounds for outside courts. A cricket match at Lord's costs 40 to 150. These events are popular as part of a British trip, and the booking sites list prices in pounds.
Street two: Edinburgh, whisky and the Highlands
The Japanese-Scottish whisky connection
At the distillery shop, Convert JPY to GBP for the bottle and check it against the allowance for returning travellers.
Scotch whisky has a particular place in Japan. The father of Japanese whisky, Masataka Taketsuru, studied in Glasgow and fell in love with a Scottish woman, Rita Cowan, whom he brought back to Japan. Today Japanese visitors tour distilleries in Speyside and on Islay. A distillery tour costs 15 to 40 pounds, a bottle of single malt 40 to 200. Convert JPY to GBP for a bottle, and compare with the Japanese price. Customs allowances in Japan for returning travellers are limited to three bottles of 760 millilitres.
Castles, lochs and trains
The Scottish Highlands attract Japanese hikers and photographers. The Jacobite steam train, known to Harry Potter fans as the Hogwarts Express, crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct. A day return costs about 60 to 90 pounds. Cottages in the Highlands cost 100 to 200 pounds a night. Distances are in miles, and Convert mi to km translates for Japanese readers.
Japanese students and young workers in Britain
Oxford, Cambridge and the London colleges
For a year of study, Convert JPY to GBP for tuition and living costs, and add the visa and health charge.
Japanese students have studied in Britain since the nineteenth century, when the so-called Chōshū Five slipped out of Japan to study at University College London in 1863 and returned to become founding figures of modern Japan, among them the first prime minister, Itō Hirobumi. Today thousands of Japanese study at British universities, in language schools, at graduate level and in short courses. Tuition for international undergraduates ranges from about 15,000 to 35,000 pounds a year, and more for medicine; living costs in London run to 15,000 to 20,000 pounds, elsewhere 10,000 to 14,000. A Japanese family weighing this up will Convert JPY to GBP for each line and arrive at a total of several million yen a year.
Visas, health charge and work rights
Students need a visa, for which a fee is charged in pounds, plus an immigration health surcharge paid upfront for the whole stay. They may work up to 20 hours a week in term time at degree level. Work in the evenings at cafés or shops pays the national minimum wage or a little more, 10 to 12 pounds an hour. A student who works 15 hours a week can earn 600 to 700 pounds a month before tax. It helps, but does not pay for the year.
The Youth Mobility Scheme
Japan and the United Kingdom have an agreement allowing young citizens of one country to live and work in the other for up to two years. Japanese applicants, aged 18 to 30, apply online, pay a fee and a health charge in pounds, and must show savings. Typical jobs are in hospitality, retail, teaching Japanese and tourism. The scheme is popular and subject to an annual quota.
Living in a British city
A room in a shared flat in London costs 800 to 1,400 pounds a month, in Manchester or Glasgow 450 to 700. Transport passes cost 90 to 180 pounds a month in London. A weekly grocery shop for one person is 30 to 50 pounds. A Japanese student finds meals at student cafés cheap and pubs expensive. Convert JPY to GBP for the monthly total, and compare it with a year in a Tokyo flat.
Britons in Japan
English teachers and the JET Programme
Since 1987, the JET Programme has placed young graduates from Britain and other English-speaking countries in Japanese schools as assistant language teachers. A participant earns about 3.36 million yen a year, free of the high costs of travel, with housing arranged. After a year or two, many stay in Japan or return with a fluent knowledge of the language. The programme has brought thousands of Britons to small towns and villages across Japan.
Life on a yen salary
At the end of each month, Convert JPY to GBP for the saving and watch the total grow.
A salary of 280,000 yen a month in a small Japanese town goes a long way: rent of 40,000 to 60,000, food of 40,000, transport and phone of 20,000, leaving a good surplus. Some teachers save a lot, and travel around Asia in the holidays. In big cities, rents are higher, and the surplus shrinks. Convert JPY to GBP in reverse for the monthly saving, and see how much it adds up to at the end of a year.
Sending money home
A transfer is only good if the amount received matches the plan, so Convert JPY to GBP first and compare.
Britons in Japan often send money to repay student loans or support relatives. They need a service that shows the rate in advance. Compare quotes against the reference figure here. A saving of two per cent on 100,000 yen is 2,000 yen, enough for dinner.
Business ties and exchange-rate risk
British exports to Japan
Britain sells Japan whisky, cars, medicines, aerospace parts, financial services and creative products such as music and games. Japan is one of Britain's largest trading partners outside Europe, and a trade agreement came into force in 2021. Exporters quote prices in pounds or yen and use forward contracts to hedge. A rise of the pound against the yen makes British goods dearer in Japan.
The City and Tokyo
Japanese banks, insurers and securities firms have large offices in London, and British asset managers operate in Tokyo. The two cities are among the main financial centres of the world, with overlapping working hours in the early morning in London. Their staff handle currency conversions at a different scale from ordinary people, but the principle is the same.
Investing and caution
Some individuals in Japan invest in British assets, such as property in London or shares in British companies. Their returns depend on the pound-yen rate. This text offers no investment advice, but it is worth remembering that the exchange rate can change the result as much as the asset's price.
Beyond Britain: pairs near the pound
Other currencies on a European trip
If your journey goes on to Central Europe, Convert JPY to PLN, Convert JPY to CZK and Convert JPY to HUF cover Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. For Sweden, Convert JPY to SEK. Each currency has its own character, and prices differ widely.
When to go
Spring and early autumn are the pleasantest seasons for a British holiday. Summer brings crowds, and winter offers Christmas lights and short days. Book rooms early for events such as Wimbledon and the Edinburgh Festival. Flights from Tokyo to London take about fourteen hours, and fares range from 800 to 2,000 pounds.
Money matters in Britain
Cards, cash and cash machines
Put a limit on the week's spending: Convert JPY to GBP for it and check that your card limit covers it.
Contactless payment is nearly universal in Britain, including on buses and the Underground. Japanese visitors, used to cash, may find the lack of coins refreshing. A card with no foreign-transaction fee is best, and the terminal should be set to pay in pounds, not yen. Cash machines dispense pounds at a rate close to the reference one, plus any fee from your bank.
Tipping and service
A service charge of 12.5 per cent is often added to restaurant bills. If it is not, a tip of 10 to 12 per cent is customary. This is unfamiliar for Japanese visitors, so check the bill. Taxi drivers expect a round-up.
Weather and clothing
Britain's weather is changeable, with a reputation for rain. Temperatures are in Celsius, as in Japan, and Convert °C to °F helps American readers. A light waterproof jacket and an umbrella are always useful. The countryside can be chilly even in summer.
The yen and the pound over time
A long history of swings
The pound has traded in a wide range against the yen over the decades, from several hundred yen to the pound in the 1980s to barely over a hundred in 2011, and back to roughly twice that in the 2020s. These swings affected exporters, tourists and investors. The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan have followed quite different paths on interest rates, which drive some of the movement. The Brexit vote of 2016 caused a sudden fall in the pound.
How to plan
Large sums deserve a plan, so Convert JPY to GBP on three days and record the lowest and highest results.
Anyone planning a large conversion should look at the thirty-day line on this page, split the amount if the pair has been restless, and note the rate of each part. An annual review of the effective rate reveals whether the chosen provider is competitive.
Related conversions
Other currencies for a European trip
For the euro, Convert JPY to EUR; for the American dollar, Convert JPY to USD; for the Swiss franc, Convert JPY to CHF. Britain is nine hours behind Japan in winter and eight in summer; for the clock difference with Europe, Convert GMT to CET.
Mistakes to avoid
Forgetting the tip
Check whether a service charge is already on the bill before adding a tip. Paying twice is easy to do.
The terminal's offer
If a card machine offers to charge you in yen, say no. Pay in pounds and let your bank convert.
Old rates
A rate noted last month may be a percentage point or more away from today's. The date beside the result protects you.
The last train
The page downloads only the table of daily reference rates. The amount you type never leaves your device, and no account is needed. From Sunderland to Edinburgh, the habit is the same: Convert JPY to GBP, read the date, compare any offer against the figure and keep a note.