A BNY Mellon strategist proposes a “Katsu Curry Index” that gauges how far the yen has weakened by comparing international prices of katsu curry. Instead of using more common price comparisons such as Big Mac-style benchmarks, the strategist focuses on the pork-and-rice dish sold by Japan’s CoCo Ichibanya.
The index uses CoCo Ichibanya curry pricing to infer what exchange rate would make the dish cost the same across markets. In the strategist’s calculation, the yen’s current level does not align with the price benchmark; the yen would be expected to trade closer to about 62 per US dollar rather than around 159.
While the concept centers on a specific product and company menu pricing, both outlets describe the effort as an attempt to make the yen’s depreciation more tangible through real-world consumer prices. The reporting focuses on the index’s methodology and the resulting implied exchange-rate comparison, without claiming it is an official economic measure.
