Strong yen brings bargains for Japanese shoppers

Japanese shoppers are snapping up imported bargains as supermarkets offer enticing discounts, inspired by the sudden rise of the yen in the past few weeks.

The Japanese currency has soared to 13-year highs against the dollar and six-year peaks against the euro, sparking a flood of red ink among Japan's exporters, but domestic retailers are hoping exchange rates will bring them a much-needed boost.

On Wednesday, supermarket chain Ito Yokado kicked off its second "strong yen" sale this month, offering up to a third off products like cheese and fruit juice, at its 170 stores around the country over a week-long period.

Rival chain Aeon Co Ltd has announced a similar campaign with discounts on products including wine and meat starting next month.

"As a housewife, this is the best possible news," one smiling woman told broadcaster NTV, as she wheeled her trolley around a branch of Ito Yokado.

Supermarket sales were down 2.2 percent in September from the same period the previous year, an industry body said last week.

"It's not that we can expect any immediate benefit from the change in exchange rates, but the customers expect us to have a sale," said a spokesman for Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd, which owns Ito Yokado.

The rising yen and global economic unease have hit Japan's tourism industry hard.

The number of overseas visitors was down 6.9 percent in September from a year earlier, with those from South Korea down more than 20 percent, according to figures published by the Japan National Tourist Organisation last week.

But travel agency JTB said its clients were not rushing abroad to take advantage of the correspondingly lower prices in other countries.

"People aren't just deciding to go abroad all of a sudden," said spokeswoman Megumi Shibuichi. "But the shopping and day trips are cheaper for them when they get there."