Any Collectors Live In Or Been To Japan?

Yeah, that's the same year as mine. Very cool coincidence!!

So I went to the Tokyo International Coin Convention on Friday. It was the first coin show I had ever been too, and it was quite impressive, as well as overwhelming. There were many dealers, and it was very crowded when I was there. I ended up getting a 50-sen coin from 1898, as well as some other old Meiji and Taisho coins from the cheap bin. I also got a couple of the old silver yen coins from the 50s and 60s, and 4 of the commemorative 500 yen coins (1986 60th year of the Emperor on the throne, 1998 Seto Bridge Opening, 1993 Crown Prince Wedding Proof, 2007 50th Anniv. of Antarctic Research Expedition) Additionally, I got a nice 1919 French 2 Francs coin that caught my eye. Here are pictures of some of the coins, sorry the pictures aren't great.
bwbollom, I didn't see any Dansco type albums for sale there, but have you ever tried Rakuten? I know you can get coins and some coin supplies on there, so they might have them.

Wow, those are really cool coins! I'm jealous that you were able to go. It sounds like you had a great time. Thank you for looking around for the Dansco-style book. I haven't checked Rakuten, but I've checked Yahoo Japan Auctions, Amazon Japan, and a few other places with no luck. I'm pretty close to just buying one of the clear pocket ones and using flips to work on my collection...it'll be fine like that and I can always transfer them to a different album if I ever find one. Congrats on the coins from your father-in-law too! That's pretty awesome!

I actually had a little bit of Golden Week success also! My wife and I drove down to Kochi with some friends yesterday and they have an outdoor Sunday Market...kind of like a flea market in the US. There were 3 or 4 people selling antiques (or just old things maybe?) who had several bins of older Japanese and international coins. I just bought a few at each dealer...most were ¥30 to ¥100 and not in any kind of great condition, but it was fun to dig through and see them all! I honestly haven't even looked in my book to see what I found yet. I just tossed them all into a bag that one of the dealers gave me and went on to the next booth. Here are front and back scans of the ones I got:



I'll have to figure out dates and types when I have a little bit of time.

Thanks for sharing your finds. I hope to make it to the Tokyo Convention (or another one here) at some point in the future!

Yeah, it was fun picking through the bins of coins. Kind of wish we weren't on our way to the beach just wandering through...would have been nice to spend some time looking. Oh well, now that I know they are there, I'll definitely be back :D This is the first (flea)market type of thing I've been to here. I was pretty much expecting what you saw, but luckily this one was mostly interesting stuff...knives, little wooden sculptures, local food, coins, books, handmade things...it was fun!

gxseries: Those are very nice coins! I especially like the first one. Cool stuff! How often to you travel to Japan? Is it for work or just fun and coins?

It's good to know that most Japanese coins don't cost a fortune. I am really hoping to put together something resembling a type-set while I live here. Nothing fancy...all likely circulated coins that I find at the local shop, outdoor markets like the one I went to recently, and pulled from circulation. It should be a fun, cheap, little project for now.

I agree that the current designs are kind of plain, but I still think they're interesting. I probably won't try to put together a complete, yearly set for each type of coin, but who knows. I wonder if people from other countries think US coins are uninteresting also?

bwbollom,

Sorry to be late in this topic. I just joined the site today after reading your Japan experience. I have been stalking the streets of Japan for coins for several years now. I use to live in Tokyo but have since returned after the 2011 earthquake.

People in Japan do not regularly collect silver. I have even gone to banks before asking if they had silver to buy and they presented me with bars and bullions of gold and platinum.

Like most things in Japan, coins are often marked up in the major coin stores. The stores can be difficult to find in general since coin collecting is not such a strong passion there. Over the years I have purchased the silver yens from 1874 to 1912 since there always seemed to have decent deals.

My secret has been to find the little out of the way coin shops still being operated by families and such. I found one such shop in Kobe on a short trip I made there just last month. I found several US gold coins and spent a long time trying to decide which one to buy, since I did not have a lot of cash on me. These little stores usually do not have internet, credit card machines or in depth knowledge of what they are selling. I found a 1915 $5 Indian gold coin priced a bit over the melt value. I grabbed it up and inspected it for a long time. You always have to be careful of counterfeits in Asia. I trusted the store but sometimes they are fooled as well. I bought it and as soon as I got home, I sent it to PCGS for grading. I was so worried that it still may be counterfeit that I kept calling PCGS about updates, I selected the regular service, which takes a while to complete. It is still being grading but was told it was genuine. PCGS said they send the coin to different graders to confirm grade. The price states 38,000 Yen but they show people were kind enough to make it down to 36,000 Yen.

On the other scope of Japan, you have the big coin shops like Mint Shop in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Of course they were all over the internet and pricey. They had one $5 gold Indian with damage to the front and side with a price of $500. Not even worth the time to look. They knew the prices and knew what they were dealing with.
So, if you can find those little coin shops tucked out of the way and see if you can find a gem, you would be better off.

Good hunting.