eli5: How is Japan’s currency so weak if it’s a economic superpower?

Question

eli5: How is Japan’s currency so weak if it’s a economic superpower?

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Answer 1

It’s currency isn’t weak just because it’s in smaller denominations… think of it like they just use cents. Instead of a can of Coke costing $1.49, it’s 149 cents.

Another way to picture it. Think of a large pizza as an economy. It could be cut into 4 slices, 8 slices, or 20 slices. Each slice doesn’t tell you anything about the overall size of the economy. A slice from a small pizza cut into 4 slices could be larger than one of the 20 slices from the large pizza but that doesn’t mean the pizza is smaller.