Show Me the Money!: How to Count Japanese Yen :Money (o-kane) is what makes the world go round, and Japan is no exception! Therefore, it’s important to learn how to count money in Japanese in order to avoid confusion. Today, we’re going to learn how to count Japanese yen!   

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Contents

Show Me the Money!: How to Count Japanese Yen

In the United States, a can of soda costs one dollar (give or take a few cents). However, in Japan, that same soda would cost 100 yen. Just like a pair of snazzy jeans in the states would cost 100 dollars, but in Japan would be closer to 10,000 yen. The high numbers can be intimidating at first, but stick with it, and you’ll be a master in no time!

Single, Double, and Triple Digit Numbers

Here are the basic numbers:

1ichi
2ni
3san
4yon (shi)
5go
6roku
7nana (shichi)
8hachi
9kyuu

Here are the double-digit numbers. Notice that all of them take the first digit (see above) and add –juu to the end:

10juu
20ni-juu
30san-juu
40yon-juu
50go-juu
60roku-juu
70nana-juu
80hachi-juu
90kyuu-juu

Triple-digit numbers, like the double-digit ones, take the first number and add –hyaku to the end (except for a 300, 600, and 800, which I will show below):

100hyaku
200ni-hyaku
300san-byaku (notice that in this case it’s byaku, not hyaku)
400yon-hyaku
500go-hyaku
600rop-pyaku (notice it’s pyaku for 600 and 800, not hyaku)
700nana-hyaku
800hap-pyaku(pyaku, not hyaku)
900kyuu-hyaku

Let’s say you want to buy a bag of chips at a convenience store. The total is 154 yen. When you say it in Japanese, you have to break it down by each part. Like so:

COSTJAPANESEENGLISH
154 yenhyaku / go-juu-yon / enone hundred / fifty four / yen

Oh no! You forgot something. You want a drink to go along with your chips. The drink is 151 yen.

151 yenhyaku / go-juu-ichi / enone hundred / fifty one / yen

154 yen + 151 yen = 305 yen 

305 yensan-byaku / go / enthree hundred / five / yen

Wait, wait! You also want a sandwich for 354 yen! 

154 + 151 + 354 = 659 yen 

659 yenrop-pyaku / go-juu-kyuu / ensix hundred / fifty nine / yen

Four-digit Numbers

With the quadruple digits, there are only 2 exceptions, 3,000 and 8,000 (shown below). 

1,000(is-)sen
2,000ni-sen
3,000san-zen (notice that it’s zen and not sen)
4,000yon-sen
5,000go-sen
6,000roku-sen
7,000nana-sen
8,000has-sen (has-sen, not hachi-sen)
9,000kyuu-sen

Let’s go shopping at a clothing store now. At first, you think you only want one item: a shirt that is on sale for 2,284 yen.

COSTJAPANESEENGLISH
2,284 yenni-sen / ni-hyaku / hachi-juu-yon / entwo thousand / two hundred / eighty four / yen

Just as you approach the register, you notice a cool pair of sunglasses for 1,184 yen that would go well with your new shirt. 

1,184 yensen / hyaku / hachi-juu-yon / enone thousand / one hundred / eighty four / yen

The cashier rings up your total at the counter:

2,284 + 1,184 = 3,468 yen 

3,468 yensan-zen / yon-hyaku / roku-juu-hachi / en three thousand / four hundred / sixty eight / yen

Five-digit Numbers

Quintuple (bet you didn’t know that word, wink) digits is where it gets complicated. At this point the Japanese group zeros not by threes, but by fours. A good strategy to use when dealing with sums of over 10,000 is to move the comma one place to the left in your mind. 

So, instead of thinking of 10,000 in this way…

Ten + comma + three zeros = 10,000 (ten thousand)

…think about it in this way:

One + comma + four zeros = 1,0000 (ichiman)

This is just something you have to get used to when counting in Japanese. 

10,000ichi-man (not juu-sen, but ichi-man)
20,000ni-man
30,000san-man
40,000yon-man
50,000go-man
60,000roku-man
70,000nana-man
80,000hachi-man
90,000kyuu-man

Let’s go to the Louis Vuitton store this time and pick out a new wallet. You see a good one that’s nice and shiny and also fits your price range at 48,980 yen.

COSTJAPANESEENGLISH
48,980 yenyon-man / has-sen / kyuu-hyaku / hachi-juu / enfour man / eight thousand / nine hundred / eighty / en

Notice above that we’re thinking in man now, not just thousands.

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Six-digit Numbers

Congratulations on getting this far! Does your brain hurt yet? Keep at it, I believe in you!

When there are six digits, think of it just like you did above with five digits. We took the number 10,000 and moved the comma to the left one place in our minds and got 1,0000 (ichi-man). Now, let’s add an extra zero: 100,000. 

Stop thinking about it like this…

One hundred + comma + three zeros = 100,000 (one hundred thousand)

…and start thinking about it like this:

Ten + comma + four zeros = 10,0000 (juu-man)

100,000juu-man (not hyaku-sen, but juu-man)
200,000ni-juu-man (not ni-hyaku-sen, but ni-juu-man)

Let’s go back to the Louis Vuitton store and pick up a 600,000 yen fur coat to go with that 48,980 wallet (because why not?)

600,000 + 48,980 = 648,980 yen 

COSTJAPANESEENGLISH
648,980 yenroku-juu-yon man /  has-sen / kyuu-hyaku / hachi-juu / ensixty four man / eight thousand / nine hundred / eighty / yen

BONUS: Seven-digit Numbers!

Unless you’re buying a car, putting a down payment on a piece of property, or negotiating a yearly salary, you probably won’t be dealing with numbers this high. If the circumstance does lend itself, though, forget about the western concept of “one million” because it doesn’t exist in Japanese. We have to get out of the mindset of grouping zeros by threes and group them by fours! It sounds complicated, but you’ll get the hang of it! Trust me!

1,000,000hyaku-man (not the Japanese for “one million,” but hyaku-man)
10,000,000is-sen-man (ichi + sen + man) We don’t stop using man until we arrive at 8 zeros in the number
100,000,000ichi-oku

Counting money in Japanese can be challenging, but that’s only because you’re out of practice! Take what you’ve learned today about numbers and use them the next time you’re out shopping. 

Remember to always practice, practice, practice!

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