Japanese CCF Members - What Is The Circulation Situation Over There?

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,511
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 06/07/2016 10:18 am My curiosity is officially piqued. I have lately been buying up some lots of Japanese yen "vacation money" for roughly the exchange rate, to cherry pick and flip back at exchange rate again. To my surprise, there have been more than a few old style coins which I did not think actually circulated when these coins were gathered (usually 90s or 00s, based on the newest ones in the lot). For those who don't know about the circulating coins of Japan, here is a quick snapshot of the history of their coins. As a rule of thumb, 1 yen is worth a little less than 1 US cent, but that value has been rising steadily from the original Bretton Woods fixed rate of 1 yen = 0.36 US cent. Showa (Hirohito) era, 1926-1989 1948-49 - Two-year series of bronze 1 and 5 yen, followed by a short break in all coinage production except the 5 yen. 1 yen (aluminum) - introduced 1955, unchanged until 1989 5 yen (brass) - introduced 1949 1949-58 old style script 1959-89 new style script 10 yen (bronze) - introduced 1951 1951-58 reeded edge 1959-89 plain edge 50 yen No hole design - 1955-58 Holed design - 1959-66 Cupronickel, small size - 1967-89 100 yen .600 Silver, phoenix design 1957-58 .600 Silver, rice design 1959-66 .600 Silver, olympics 1964 Cupronickel, 1967-89 500 yen (cupronickel) introduced 1982 Heisei era (since 1989) 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 yen - no change 500 yen was redesigned and changed to aluminum bronze in 2000 to add security features The lots understandably contain a lot of coins from the period of relative stability in these designs. Reeded 10 yen show up sometimes, usually in the ones that lean toward older coins. What gets me is that a lot of these lots contain both styles of large 50 yen pieces, which have not been produced since the 50s and 60s. 500 yen coins are not common, but are usually of the cupronickel variety when they do show up. Some lots contain commemorative 100 yen coins, but commemorative 500 yen are usually sold individually for 2-3x face value. So for our members who use these coins on a daily basis, what can you add about what frequently turns up? How common are Showa versus Heisei coins? Do you ever see old varieties, silver, or the large size 50 yen? Are the old style 500 yen completely gone? Do commemoratives ever actually circulate, or just get listed on ebay? Report this Post to the Staff

gxseries Pillar of the Community Australia 3831 Posts	Posted 06/07/2016 3:41 pm The basic rule of thumb is that most coins from 1966 and prior to this no longer circulate. This effectively eliminates all of the older type of coinage. The older 500 yen as well does not really circulate as this cannot be used in vending machines (some machines do accept it but rarely) although it can be used at a cashier. I used some older 500 yen when I was in Japan a few years ago. Mind you, they were scratched, damaged, etc so they were not worth keeping. This is also the same reason why commemorative Japanese coins do not circulate - for some dumb reasons many of the commemorative coins were struck in different planchets, making them essentially useless for vending machines. My partial coin collection http://www.omnicoin.com/collection/gxseries My numismatics articles and collection: http://www.gxseries.com/numis/numis_index.htm Regularly updated at least once a month. Report this Post to the Staff
Finn235 Pillar of the Community United States 6130 Posts	Posted 06/07/2016 3:52 pm I had assumed that the commemoratives were never intended to circulate--I am up to about a dozen of the older Expo types and some newer ones, and not one shows any wear beyond what could be explained by careless handling. I would love to own a set of the 48 prefectures coins, but ¥500 each is a crazy amount of money to tie up, not even counting that the going rate on ebay is $15 each. Do the Japanese care to keep the older Showa coins, or do those circulate freely? Report this Post to the Staff
winterfell Valued Member United States 231 Posts	Posted 06/08/2016 12:35 am gxseries is right. I lived in Japan for years, until the end of 2013, though for most of that time I wasn't collecting coins. Showa-era coins of current designs are common in circulation, but I never saw older designs in circulation. The only exceptions being some of the older 500 yen which don't look very different, and some reeded edge 10 yen coins. Some Japanese do search for the reeded-edge coins, as they will bring a premium to face value at a coin shop. When the commemoratives are first released, they can be had at banks for face value, but I believe they go pretty quickly. When my father in law learned that I had started to collect coins, he gave me some of the older Showa coins that he had saved over the years, as well as some commemoratives. From him, I have also received most of the 500 yen prefecture coins, and the recent 100 yen shinkansen issues, so I have a nice little modern Japanese collection! Report this Post to the Staff
UltraRant Pillar of the Community Norway 1358 Posts	Posted 06/09/2016 7:39 pm If you want 'old' Japanese current (Showa, Heisei) circulation coins, your biggest chance is to end up with 10 Yen pieces. If they have a reeded edge, they're from the 1950's. I got quite a few in normal change. It's a bit hard to identify the date, as there's no date in Roman numerals on them and counting starts all over again at 1 at the change of regime. In fact, the 5 yen coin doesn't have any numbers in Roman numerals at all... Japanese don't seem to actively collect any circulating older Showa coins, although they seem to become a bit more rare nowadays (which isn't surprising as there are coming more and more Heisei in circulation now). Anyway, I also picked up a few older ones in bulk coins that I bought and in the bins. Really nice ones, too. Unfortunately it's true about the commemorative coins: you won't find them in circulation. I'm not sure if it's true that it's done explicitly: with mintage numbers sometimes exceeding 100 million (1975 100 yen coin, for example) and using the right planchets, the aim doesn't seem to be having an exclusive collectible. The good news is that there are now more commemorative coins minted on standard planchets. However, as said, my experience is that, even with normal planchets being used and mintage being in the millions, no commemorative coins are found in circulation. I agree with winterfell. The Shinkansen coins are like the train: fascinating and very nice. I am still looking for the 500 Yen coin from 1994, commemorating Kansai Airport. It's the only coin I know with an airplane on it, and as I make over 100 flights a year on average... Sounds like I need to find an excuse to go back to Japan again soon. :) Report this Post to the Staff
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