Posted 09/25/2007 06:16 am
The biggest clue when trying to figure out whether a note is Chinese or Japanese, is to look for the flower. See the large, round disc-shape at the top centre? that's the chrysanthemum flower, badge of Imperial Japan. It appears on almost all pre-WWII Japanese military and civilian notes and coins. The 10 yen is an undated note, issued from 1930 up to war's end.
You'll notice the second note, the "5", doesn't have the chrysanthemum flower on it anywhere; other flower-like images are used instead. That's a hint - it's not from Japan itself, but likely one of the Japanese puppet states. It is in fact a 5 yen from Japanese-occupied Korea; I've never seen one of these before, but they're still common enough, apparently. The lack of a proper serial number indicates a late-period issue - 1945.
You'll notice the second note, the "5", doesn't have the chrysanthemum flower on it anywhere; other flower-like images are used instead. That's a hint - it's not from Japan itself, but likely one of the Japanese puppet states. It is in fact a 5 yen from Japanese-occupied Korea; I've never seen one of these before, but they're still common enough, apparently. The lack of a proper serial number indicates a late-period issue - 1945.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
