Katsu Curry Index Shows Yen Severely Undervalued, BNY Says

Geoff Yu, a money expert at a big bank called Bank of New York Mellon, made a new way to check if the Japanese yen is worth the right amount.

He compares the price of katsu curry, a popular Japanese meal with pork and rice, in different countries.

When one US dollar can buy a lot of curry in Japan, it means the yen is weak.

Right now, one dollar buys about 159 yen, but his curry comparison says it should only buy about 62 yen.

That suggests the yen is much cheaper than it should be based on what food really costs.

The famous Big Mac index, created by The Economist magazine, says the dollar should buy about 80 yen, so it also thinks the yen is weak.

Japan and the United States recently stepped in to make the yen stronger, which was the biggest action like that in 15 years.

It worked at first, but the yen has already given back half of those gains.

A weak yen makes trips abroad and many meals, services and goods in Japan more expensive.

The expert worries that if katsu curry and ramen become too pricey, Japanese people will want their leaders to change policy.