Convert PLN to JPY Polish zloty ↔ Japanese yen Free Online Secure
Type an amount in Polish zloty and read it in Japanese yen 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 PLN to JPY (Polish zloty ↔ Japanese yen)
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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.
Three debts of gratitude between Warsaw and Tokyo: Siberian orphans, a visa-signing diplomat and a pianist who never left Poland's heart
In the early 1920s, seven hundred and sixty-five Polish children, orphaned or abandoned in Siberia after years of war and revolution, were carried across the Pacific by the Japanese Red Cross, fed and cared for in Tokyo and Osaka, and finally put on ships to their homeland. In 1940, a Japanese consul in Lithuania called Chiune Sugihara sat at his desk day and night, writing transit visas by hand for refugees who had fled from occupied Poland, among them thousands of Polish Jews. And across a hundred and fifty years, the music of Fryderyk Chopin has been played, studied and loved in Japan with a devotion that Poles find moving. These three threads make a bond between two countries on opposite ends of Eurasia that has little to do with trade, and every Pole who visits Japan hears about them at some point. Planning such a trip begins with money: how many Japanese yen does a zloty buy? This page answers it. Use it to Convert PLN to JPY with the daily reference rates published by the European Central Bank, which quotes the zloty and the yen against the euro; the page combines them into a zloty-yen figure and prints the date under the result. The amount you type never leaves your browser.
Using the converter
Zloty in, yen out
Before you book, Convert PLN to JPY for the whole budget and keep the figure beside your flight confirmation.
Type an amount in zloty and read the equivalent in Japanese yen. A zloty is worth many yen, so the result is a much larger number than the one you entered, usually with no decimals worth reading. The date of the rate sits beneath the result; at weekends and on public holidays the page falls back to the last working day and says so. A table of round amounts and a thirty-day line complete the page. For the opposite direction, from yen into zloty, open Convert JPY to PLN.
A reference, not a quote
The published rate is a mid-market figure fixed once on every working day, without any bank margin. Cards, exchange counters and transfer apps give you slightly less, and the shortfall is their charge. Treat every attempt to Convert PLN to JPY as a yardstick for the offers you meet: under one per cent is excellent, two to three per cent is normal at banks, and above four per cent is a reason to compare. In the examples below, purely for arithmetic, an invented round rate of thirty-five yen to the zloty is used. It is not a forecast and not today's price, so replace it with the real figure from the calculator.
Debt one: the children of Siberia
How they got there
History explains the friendship, arithmetic explains the trip, so Convert PLN to JPY for a ticket and a bed and see how a pilgrimage fits a budget.
During the First World War and the civil war that followed in Russia, hundreds of thousands of Poles were deported or fled eastward. By the end of the war, thousands of children were left orphaned in Siberia, living in camps and shelters, hungry and sick. A committee of Polish exiles in Vladivostok appealed to the world for help. Many countries hesitated, but Japan agreed, and between 1920 and 1922 the Japanese Red Cross, supported by the army and by donations from ordinary people, brought several hundred children across the sea.
Care in Japan
In Tokyo and Osaka, the children were given clothes, food, medical care and lessons. Japanese nurses and volunteers looked after them; some wept at the departure. The children regained strength and learned some Japanese songs, which they remembered all their lives. They sailed on to the United States and across the Atlantic to Poland. The story remained little known in Poland during the communist years, but after 1989 it was rediscovered, and survivors were invited to Japan to meet those who had helped them.
A gift repaid in 1996
When a major earthquake struck the Kobe area in January 1995, Polish organisations remembered the earlier debt. In 1996, a group of children from the affected region was invited to Poland for a summer holiday, hosted by families and by the Polish Red Cross. Photographs of Polish and Japanese children playing together were printed in newspapers. The gesture is still recalled in both countries.
Debt two: the consul in Kaunas
Visas in a hurry
In the summer of 1940, thousands of refugees stood outside the Japanese consulate in Kaunas, then the capital of Lithuania, which was about to be annexed by the Soviet Union. Among them were Polish Jews who had fled the German occupation of their country. Chiune Sugihara, the consul, asked his government for permission to issue transit visas through Japan, was refused three times, and decided to write them anyway. For almost a month, he worked by hand from morning to night, and his wife helped, until he was ordered to leave. Estimates say that he saved around six thousand people, and many more descendants owe their lives to him.
Remembered in both countries
Sugihara returned to Japan, was dismissed from the foreign ministry and lived quietly for decades. He was honoured by Israel in 1985 and is now regarded as a hero in many countries. In Poland, schools and streets carry his name, and exhibitions on his deeds are held in museums. In Japan, a memorial in his hometown of Yaotsu tells the story. A visit to such a place is for many travellers the emotional heart of a journey.
What a pilgrim spends
A day of museums, trains and meals looks modest in yen, but you should Convert PLN to JPY for each line before adding them up.
Visiting memorials, museums and cities in Japan is not cheap. Entry to a museum costs 500 to 1,500 yen, a train ticket for a long journey several thousand yen and a night in a business hotel 8,000 to 15,000. When you Convert PLN to JPY for each of these items, you gain a sense of how many zloty you need per day.
Debt three: Chopin in Japan
A composer adopted by a nation
Chopin is among the most performed composers in Japan, and his music is a staple of conservatory teaching, of concert halls and of Sunday afternoon radio. Japanese pianists have gone to Warsaw for the International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years, and Mitsuko Uchida won a second prize there in 1970 on the way to an international career. Japanese audiences listen to his nocturnes in silence, and Japanese piano makers supply instruments to the world. A Pole who plays a mazurka in Tokyo is often surprised to find that the audience knows each bar.
Warsaw for Japanese pilgrims
Concert tickets are priced in zloty on one side and yen on the other, so Convert PLN to JPY to compare an evening in Warsaw with one in Tokyo.
In Warsaw, Japanese visitors seek out the Chopin Museum, the benches that play his music in the parks and the church of the Holy Cross, where his heart is kept in a pillar. Concerts are held in the Royal Łazienki Park on summer Sundays, and tickets for them are free. Conversely, Poles who visit Japan can attend concerts in Tokyo, Osaka and other cities, with tickets from 3,000 to 15,000 yen.
Musical exchanges
Polish musicians tour Japan, and Japanese orchestras and soloists tour Poland. The exchange is supported by foundations, embassies and festival organisers. Students on scholarships spend a year in the other country. When a Polish student receives a grant in yen, the first thing is to Convert PLN to JPY and check how far it will go.
Japan in Poland: three places to visit before you fly
Manggha in Kraków
On the bank of the Vistula, opposite the royal castle of Wawel, stands a long, low building with a wavy roof that echoes the shape of a Japanese wave. It is the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, opened in 1994. The film director Andrzej Wajda, who won the Kyoto Prize in 1987, donated the prize money to create the centre, and the building was designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. The collection goes back to Feliks Jasieński, a Kraków collector of the late nineteenth century who gave his enormous holdings of Japanese prints, textiles and ceramics to the city and who was nicknamed Manggha after Hokusai's sketchbooks. Entry costs a few tens of zloty, and the museum has a tea room, a garden and a cinema. Convert PLN to JPY for the ticket and the tea: you will see that a Japanese afternoon in Kraków costs far less than a day in Tokyo.
The Japanese Garden in Wrocław
In Szczytnicki Park in Wrocław, a Japanese garden with a pond, a tea house, stone lanterns and an arched bridge was built for an exhibition in 1913, when the city was still German. It was designed with the help of Japanese gardeners and restored after the war. Today it is open from spring to autumn and especially popular in April, when cherry trees bloom. Admission is a few zloty, and the garden is a short tram ride from the old town. Japanese visitors often photograph it in the same pose as at home.
Language and culture in Polish universities
Japanese studies are offered at several Polish universities, including Warsaw, Kraków, Poznań and Wrocław, and the number of applicants is high. Students read manga, watch anime and later spend a year in Japan on exchange scholarships. Their interest is part of a wider fashion for Japanese culture: bookshops stock manga, cinemas hold anime nights and conventions fill exhibition halls.
Japanese food on a Polish menu
In the 2000s, sushi arrived in Polish cities and has stayed. Restaurants of all kinds serve rolls, bowls of ramen are popular in the colder months and the supermarkets sell soy sauce, noodles and seaweed. A lunch set in Warsaw costs 35 to 60 zloty, and a ramen bowl 35 to 50. When you Convert PLN to JPY for these prices, you find that the same meal in Tokyo can be cheaper than in Warsaw, a surprise for first-time visitors.
Language bridges for the traveller
Ten words that help
You do not need to speak Japanese to travel, but a few words go a long way. Say "konnichiwa" for good day, "arigatō" for thanks, "sumimasen" for excuse me or sorry, "onegaishimasu" for please, "eigo" for English, and "oishii" for delicious. Pointing at a menu photograph works as well. Many signs in large cities have English, and translation apps with a camera function help read menus and tickets.
Trains and numbers
A Shinkansen ticket is the biggest single item for many visitors, so Convert PLN to JPY for it before choosing between a pass and single tickets.
Japan's high-speed trains, the Shinkansen, run to the minute, and tickets can be bought from machines with an English option. Prices are listed in yen, usually in four or five digits. A trip from Tokyo to Kyoto costs around 14,000 yen, which is about 400 zloty at the invented rate. Seat reservations are advisable in busy seasons. Luggage is limited on some fast trains, so check the rules if you carry large suitcases.
The week of golden days
At the end of April and the beginning of May, Japan celebrates a series of public holidays known as Golden Week, when millions travel. Trains and hotels are full, and prices are high. Avoid this week unless you have booked early. Similar peaks occur in mid-August and around the New Year.
Going to Japan
Flights and entry
Direct flights link Warsaw with Tokyo, and connecting flights through the Gulf, Helsinki or other hubs are common. A direct flight takes around eleven and a half hours, and Japan is eight hours ahead of Poland in winter and seven in summer. Polish citizens can visit Japan as tourists for up to ninety days without a visa, with a valid passport. Always check the official website of the Japanese embassy before travelling, since rules may change. If you plan to continue further west, Convert CET to EET shows the one-hour gap between Central and Eastern European time.
Daily costs
Menus in Japan show prices without the extra zeros you know from home, so Convert PLN to JPY for a typical meal and keep the factor in your head.
A bowl of ramen costs 900 to 1,300 yen, a set lunch 1,000 to 1,500, a convenience-store sandwich 300 to 500, a coffee 300 to 600, and a dinner in a mid-range restaurant 3,000 to 6,000. A day pass for the Tokyo metro costs about 800 yen. A seven-day rail pass for foreigners has become much more expensive in recent years, so compare it with the price of individual tickets. With the invented rate of thirty-five yen to the zloty, a ramen at 1,000 yen is about 29 zloty.
Etiquette
Remove your shoes at the door of homes, many temples and traditional inns. Do not tip, because service is included, and a coin left on a table may be run after. Speak quietly on trains and avoid phone calls. Carry small trash bags, as public bins are rare. Politeness is highly valued, and a bow and a "thank you" cost nothing.
Units and practicalities in Japan
Distances, heights and temperature
Japan uses metric units. Convert km to mi turns kilometres into miles, Convert m to ft turns the 3,776 metres of Mount Fuji into feet, and Convert °C to °F gives Fahrenheit. Summers are hot and humid, winters in the north snowy, spring and autumn the most pleasant seasons.
Cards and cash
Cards convert for you, but you should Convert PLN to JPY at the till to see whether the statement shows a fair amount.
Japan still uses cash more than many countries. Small restaurants, temples and rural inns may not take cards, so carry yen. Convenience stores have cash machines that accept foreign cards, and withdrawals there are usually reliable. Prepaid transit cards make travel easy. Refuse the offer to be charged in zloty at a terminal, because the rate offered is worse than your bank's.
Other zloty conversions
If your trip continues
Travellers who stop in the euro area can use Convert PLN to EUR, those who cross the Pacific Convert PLN to USD, and those who go on to Australia Convert PLN to AUD. For a stopover in London there is Convert PLN to GBP.
A habit worth keeping
Write down the rate and date at every exchange, and compare them later with your statement. It takes seconds.
Mistakes to avoid
Carrying too little cash
Many small places in Japan take only cash. Withdraw yen at a convenience-store machine on arrival.
Booking too late
A hotel room in cherry-blossom season costs far more than in winter, so Convert PLN to JPY for both and decide whether to shift your dates.
Cherry blossom time in spring and autumn leaves in November fill hotels months ahead. Reserve early and read the cancellation rules.
Using an old rate
A rate from last month can be wrong by several per cent. The date shown beside the result protects you each time you Convert PLN to JPY.
In short
The only thing fetched from the network is the table of daily rates, while your amount stays in your browser and no account is needed. From Siberian orphans to a ramen in Tokyo, the habit is the same: Convert PLN to JPY, note the date and compare every offer with the number on this page.