How considerate:
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies announced Wednesday it will provide ¥100,000 grants by March to 30 exchange students who are paying their own expenses but suffering from the yen’s appreciation. (The Japan Times)
Of course this only applies to non-scholarship students. Nevertheless I find it mildly annoying that ever since I came to Japan the tendencies were quite not in my favour. Firstly every single year there was a slight drop in the amount of scholarship I received, kudos to the Japanese government. Secondly the Yen was worth less and less compared to the Euro or HUF. In 2004 when I came here the Yen sold at almost 2 HUF. Just recently it dropped to less than 1.5, making my scholarship worth a lot less. For example the international plane tickets never changed with the conversion, if anything they cost more.
That is before the economic crisis started. Suddenly the Yen-HUF conversion flared up to 2.4. Which is quite typical: in a few months I will stop getting scholarship…
Ha netán vígasztal, van honfitársad, akinek szerencséje volt: amikor mentem, 1 yen 1,35 forint volt (illetve egy euróért 168 yent kaptam). Aztán az őrület véget ért, én meg kaptam Japánban fizetést – ami nyár végére már egész sokat ért visszaváltva is.
Ha marad ez az arány és végül úgy döntenek, hogy mehetek, akkor ezek szerint szép kis summa lesz majd az ösztöndíj.