Two years ago 1 euro reached a cost of almost 170 yen; that was the maximum historic value of the euro against the yen. Last week the euro was devalued until 108 yen per euro, its minimum historic value against the yen. The biggest problem that Japan faces against this situation is the difficulty to export its products to Europe.
On the other hand, the advantage for those of us that like to consume certain European products from time to time is that thanks to the strong yen its so much cheaper to import them. For example, an olive oil liter can be bought for 698 yen in downtown Tokyo. The yen strength is useful for marketing purposes, the big characters on the red sign can be translated as “A strong yen is an advantage!” (円高還元).
