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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nShrapnel. The one- and five-yen coins are great for taking up space in your pockets or coin purse and preventing you from feeding an automated vending machine any denomination it will accept. Use these as quickly as you can to pay with exact change at restaurants or stores because they will add up quickly and when you have too many nobody will talk to you anymore. A self-serving yet altruistic option is to donate any and all of these monetary outcasts at collection boxes near the till in most convenience stores. Causes range from domestic earthquake recovery to food and school supplies for the underprivileged around the world. The staff even say thank you when you unload your bluff money. No, thank you<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has been scientifically proven that holding a one-yen coin in your hand feels like nothing at all. This dime-sized coin reaches its 1g weight on a diet of aluminum and lies. The obverse has a small tree, while the rear has a large number one above the date of its minting. The dating system used is not Gregorian, but domestic Imperial. Emperor Hirohito\u2019s reign translates to the Sh\u014dwa denotation. This period, ranging from 1926-1989 is represented by Sh\u014dwa 1 \u2013 64. The present period is Heisei, which began in 1989. At first, it might seem confusing that Sh\u014dwa 64 and Heisei 1 occupy the same year, but the Sh\u014dwa era ended seven days into January, so in actuality 1989 is mostly Heisei 1. Onward!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The five-yen coin is the only unit of currency devoid of any Arabic numerals, which might lead you to believe rather correctly that it should be given back to whoever handed it to you in the first place. Nearly four times the weight of the single yen, this brass coin is one of only two to have a hole bored through its center. The face has an ear of rice emerging from water, with a gear around the hole, representing agriculture, fisheries, and industry, staples of the Japanese economy from past through present. The reverse simply tells you the year and country it was minted in, separated by adorable little tree sprouts to rekindle any feelings you had towards the one-yen coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a ten-yen coin in your hand, you can walk with\nconfidence, knowing that any debt or fee just got 10 yen cheaper. Welcome to\nthe world of universally accepted coinage. Bronze is the flavor of this minidisc,\nand although its only slightly more massive than the fiver, it\u2019s in a different\nleague entirely. The front side depicts the Phoenix Hall of By\u014dd\u014din in Uji, one\nof the most beautiful temples in Japan. So beautiful in fact, that a replica\nwas built in Hawaii\u2019s Valley of the Temples. Pretty cool. The other side has\nbay laurel leaves embracing the number ten above the year of issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where things start to get shiny. 50 yen. The only\nother coin to have a hole in the middle, but in no way should it be confused\nwith its lesser sibling. For one thing, it\u2019s money-colored. Another\ndifferentiating feature is the big 5-0 on the back, above the mintage date. The\nface has chrysanthemums, the flower on the Coat of Arms and Imperial Seal,\nwhich is all well and fine, just make sure they\u2019re not in the bouquet you hand\nthe gracious hosts who invited you over for dinner. Speaking of flowers, there\u2019s\none perhaps even more inextricably linked to the country. Cherry blossoms! These\nare found on the 100-yen coin, which is comprised of a copper-nickel alloy, as\nis the 50-yen. The rear has a simple date and value, short and sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bringing pecuniary metallurgy to a close we have the world\u2019s\nmost valuable coin in circulation, weighing in at 7g with a nickel-brass\ncompound, the 500-yen granddaddy. The stuff of pirate booty. The reason I want\na satchel and how I\u2019d prefer to pay when I purchase my next car. Excuse me,\nyou\u2019ve got paulownia on your face. How many times do you hear that? The 500-yen\ncoin hears that daily. Just as the chrysanthemum is used for the Imperial Seal,\nthe paulownia is used for the Government Seal of Japan. This \u201cprincess tree\u201d\ngot its colloquial name because it was planted when a girl was born and used to\nmake a chest on her wedding day. It\u2019s also used in many quintessential Japanese\ngoods such as instruments, clogs, visiting cards, etc. Somewhat peculiar for a\ncoin, the reverse utilizes an anti-counterfeiting latent image in the zeros, as\nwell as micro printing and a unique electric conductivity that vending machines\ncheck to make sure you\u2019re not feeding them the similar yet inferior 500-won\ncoin from Korea. Also on the reverse are the date of issue, of course, and a\nsymmetrical motif of bamboo and auspicious citrus. Anyway, a fine, fine coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They say you can tell where a country places its values by what images they put on their currency. You will find no superhero eagles, levitating pyramids, politicians, or royalty on Japan\u2019s notes. What you will find, however, are authors and a bacteriologist. The 1,000-yen note celebrates Hideyo Noguchi, whose hair is indisputably awesome. Dr. Noguchi was nominated for the Nobel Prize no less than nine times, and his tireless work most notably furthered the understanding of syphilis. The opposite side of the bill has one of the classic views of Mount Fuji from across Lake Motosu, with cherry blossoms, naturally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The elusive 2,000-yen note was made for the 26th<\/sup>\nG8 summit held in Okinawa. The only way you\u2019re likely to set eyes upon one of\nthese is if you exchange your money for yen in your own country. It can be a\ngood conversation starter though, and you\u2019ll find no problems unloading them\nover here. One distinction is the absence of a bust on the front of this note.\nInstead, we see Shureimon, a gate to Shuri Castle, a UNESCO site in Okinawa.\nPerhaps it should be noted that Mount Fuji is a UNESCO site, too. The back of\nthe bill portrays a scene from The Tale\nof Genji <\/em>overlaid with an excerpt from the same work beside a portrait of\nthe author, Murasaki Shikibu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 5,000-yen note also pays homage to a female author, best\nknown by her pen name, Ichiy\u014d Higuchi. Whereas Lady Murasaki writes from and\nabout the Imperial Court of the Heian Period, Ichiy\u014d Higuchi writes of and amongst\ndestitution and misfortune in a notorious red-light district of Meiji Era\nTokyo. Sadly, she passed before she could reach a quarter-century in age. The\nopposite side shows us a painting of irises, titled just that, by distinguished\nRinpa painter Ogata K\u014drin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last and opposite of least, who is displayed on the 10,000-yen note? Saying Fukuzawa Yukichi was also an author is akin to saying Einstein was also a breather. His list of deeds is truly mindboggling, and I honestly wouldn\u2019t know where to start or how to sum them up appropriately, so I\u2019ll just say one of his many illustrious accomplishments was founding Keio University, one of Japan\u2019s best. The flip side returns us to Heian Uji with a close-up of a phoenix adorning the eponymous hall of By\u014dd\u014din, which you may not be surprised to learn is also a UNESCO site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, hopefully that sheds a little light onto what\u2019s being\nexchanged for goods and services over here. Speaking of, now is a good time to\nvisit, as the yen is currently weak. That said, with an export-driven economy, it\u2019s\noften a good time to visit because the BOJ does what they can to keep the yen\nless burly than it might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wanted to share more photographs I\u2019d taken of Japanese cash for illustrative purposes, but Photoshop wouldn\u2019t let me open the files at all. Since they\u2019ve ironically denied me the ability to easily write \u201csample\u201d on the images in an effort to curb counterfeiting, I\u2019ll share this link to pictures on the Bank of Japan\u2019s website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lovejoyphotographic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Coin6.jpg\")
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