1 yen coin

The 1-yen coin (一円硬貨, Ichi-en kōka) is the smallest denomination of the Japanese yen currency. The first Japanese one-yen coins were made of both silver and gold in the early 1870s. Issues facing the Japanese government at the time included wanting to adopt the gold standard, and competing against the Mexican dollar for use in foreign trade. The decision was made to use silver one yen coins exclusively outside of Japan for trade, while gold coins were minted and used in mainland Japan. Gold and silver coins were eventually allowed to co-circulate in mainland Japan from 1878 to 1897 when they were demonetized. Millions of former one yen silver coins were countermarked by the Japanese government for use outside of the mainland. Silver one yen coins continued to be minted though until 1914 for backing up currency.

One yen

Japan
Value	1 Japanese yen
Mass	1 g
Diameter	20 mm
Thickness	1.5 mm
Edge	Smooth
Composition	100% Al (Current)
Years of minting	1871–present
Obverse
Design	Young tree with the words "State of Japan" above, and "1 Yen" below.
Design date	1955
Reverse
Design	"1" in a circle with year of issue in kanji Showa era year 64 (1989)
Design date	1955

One yen coins were not made again until after World War II in the late 1940s. These were made up of a brass alloy and were only minted for three years. The current one yen coin dates to 1955, is made up of pure aluminium, and has a young tree design which has been used since. In the early 2010s increasing usage of electronic money led to a lack of demand, and production of the coin was confined to mint sets until 2014. Regular production only lasted until 2016, when new one yen coins were again confined only to mint sets. Like with the U.S. penny, the Japan Mint has minted one-yen coins at a loss due to the rising cost of the base metal used in the coins.

History

Early yen (1870–1914)

The first Japanese one-yen coins were minted between 1871 and 1872 using both silver and gold alloys.[1][2] This came at a time when a new decimal system was put into place, and a modern mint was established at Osaka. The yen was officially adopted by the Meiji government in an act signed on June 27, 1871.[3] While silver one yen coins are dated 1870, mint records show they were minted between 1871 and 1872 at the San Francisco Mint. Meanwhile, the first gold one yen coins dated 1871 were not minted until 1872 at the newly formed Osaka mint.[2] No silver one yen coins were struck in 1873 as the year was devoted to turning out gold pieces domestically.[4] The exclusive minting of gold coins during this time was reflective of the Japanese government's wish to switch to the gold standard in order to keep up with countries in North America and Europe.[5] The Japanese government eventually came to the conclusion that issuing silver one yen coins alongside standard gold coins was in the best interest of foreign trade. Silver one yen coinage was resumed in 1874 for use outside of Japan to compete with the silver Mexican dollar.[6]

Japan ultimately went with a bimetallic standard in 1878, which gave the one yen silver coin legal tender status throughout the country.[5][7] Silver one yen coins continued to be minted every year afterwards until 1897. Large amounts of coins were struck between 1878 and 1897 as the value of silver declined, which increased their demand. The fluctuations over the price of silver eventually made trade with Europe and the United States unreliable.[7] Japan officially switched to the gold standard on October 1, 1897 and all of the silver one yen coins were demonetized. Leeway time was granted until July 31, 1898 for those wanting to trade the coins for gold.[8] Many former one yen silver coins were then melted down to provide bullion for subsidiary coins. Others were countermarked "Gin" for use in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, Korea, and Lüshunkou.[9][10] Silver one yen coins were not stuck again until 1901 when they served as a reserve fund for "Bank of Formosa" notes.[11] This practice ended in 1904 due to the fluctuations in price between silver and gold.[12] The production of silver one yen coins eventually ended in 1914 during the 3rd year of Emperor Taishō's reign.

Modern yen (1948–)

Japanese coinage was reformed in 1948 with the issue of a brass one-yen coin. 451,170,000 coins were minted until production stopped in 1950.[13] The obverse of these brass coins features a numeral "1" with "State of Japan" above, and the date below, while the reverse reads "One Yen" with a floral pattern below it.[13] The current aluminium coin was first introduced in 1955 with a floral design. The obverse has a young tree, intended to symbolize the healthy growth of Japan. The reverse side of the coin has a figure "1" in a circle that represents one yen; below the digit is the year of issue which is written in kanji.[14] The one yen coin remains the oldest modern denomination coin with an unchanged design; throughout its minting history the coin was fully halted only once[lower-alpha 1] in 1968 due to excessive production.[15][14][16] In 1989 a national consumption tax (set at 3%) was put into place resulting in many prices that were not multiples of 5 or 10 yen, causing the Japan Mint to produce one yen coins in huge numbers.[16][17]

This consumption tax rate was raised in 1997 to 5%, reducing demand for the coin. By the turn of the century other factors such as rising metal costs and increasing usage of electronic money began to come into play. It was reported in 2003 that it cost 13 yen for the mint to produce a rolled plate[lower-alpha 2] for one yen coins. The rising price of aluminum had started to generate a commercial loss for the Japan Mint.[19] In 2009, unsuccessful measures that included raising money from the private sector were tried in order to lower the cost.[20] From 2011 to 2013 the Ministry of Finance stopped issuing new one yen coins for circulation. There was a small production run of 500,000 to 700,000 coins in mint sets for coin collectors.[17][21] Production resumed in 2014 when the consumption tax was raised again to 8%, causing sums to be less rounded.[22]

The cost of producing each one yen coin was reported to be 3 yen as early as 2015.[23] In the following year, more cashless transactions caused the ministry to stop issuing new one yen coins for circulation again.[17][21] It was reported in October 2017 though, that one yen coins remained popular in places like Osaka, where the coins are traditionally used for merchant transactions.[24] Despite their localized popularity, no coins have been made since 2016 apart from those in collectable mint sets.[22] The Japanese government has set a goal of increasing cashless transactions to 40% of all transactions by 2025.[17][22]

According to correspondent Leo Lewis of the Financial Times, the overall use of cash will not be "broken easily" in Japan. Lewis says that elderly Japanese people have not been eager for innovation, and conditions such as "low street crime, low interest rates and a reduced threshold on inheritance tax" remain in place that increase the appeal of carrying cash.[25] One-yen coins have also seen non monetary usage; since all 1-yen coins weigh just one gram, they are sometimes used as weights. If placed carefully on the surface of still water, 1-yen coins will not break surface tension and thus can also float.[25][26]

Composition

Years	Material
1871, 1874, 1876–1877, 1880, 1892	90% gold, 10% copper
1870, 1874–1875, 1878–1914	90% silver, 10% copper
1948–1950	Brass
1955–present	100% aluminium

Circulation figures

1 yen coin from 1874 (year 7)
(Gold - one design used)

1 yen silver coin from 1870 (year 3)
Design 1 - (1870)

1 yen silver coin from 1874 (year 7)
Design 2 - (1874–1914[lower-alpha 3])

Meiji

The following are circulation figures for the coins minted between the 3rd and the 45th and last year of Emperor Meiji's reign. Coins for this period all begin with the Japanese symbol 明治 (Meiji). One yen trade dollars, minor varieties, and patterns are not included here. Countermarked yen ("Gin") are included in the original mintage totals.

• Inscriptions on Japanese coins from this period are read clockwise from right to left:

"Year" ← Number representing year of reign ← Emperor's name (e.g. 年 ← 五十三 ← 治明)

Year of reign	Japanese date	Gregorian date	Mintage
03 3rd	三	1870 (Includes all types[lower-alpha 4])	3,685,049[27]
04 4th	四	1871 (Gold)	1,841,288[28]
07 7th	七	1874 (Gold)	116,341[29]
07 7th	七	1874 (Silver)	942,006[30]
08 8th	八	1875	139,323[31]
09 9th	九	1876 (Gold)	138[29]
10th	十	1877 (Gold)	7,246[29]
11th	一十	1878	856,378[31]
12th	二十	1879	1,913,318[31]
13th	三十	1880 (Gold)	112[29]
13th	三十	1880 (Silver)	5,247,432[31]
14th	四十	1881	2,927,409[31]
15th	五十	1882	5,089,064[31]
16th	六十	1883	3,636,678[31]
17th	七十	1884	3,599,192[31]
18th	八十	1885	4,296,620[31]
19th	九十	1886	9,084,262[31]
20th	十二	1887	8,275,787[31]
21st	一十二	1888	9,477,414[32]
22nd	二十二	1889	9,295,348[32]
23rd	三十二	1890	7,292,877[32]
24th	四十二	1891	7,518,021[32]
25th	五十二	1892 (Early variety[lower-alpha 5])	11,187,613[32]
25th	五十二	1892 (Late variety[lower-alpha 6])
25th	五十二	1892 (Gold)	Not circulated[33]
26th	六十二	1893	10,403,477[32]
27th	七十二	1894	22,118,416[32]
28th	八十二	1895	21,098,754[32]
29th	九十二	1896	11,363,949[32]
30th	十三	1897	2,448,694[32]
34th	四十三	1901	1,256,252[32]
35th	五十三	1902	668,782[32]
36th	六十三	1903	5,131,096[32]
37th	七十三	1904	6,970,843[32]
38th	八十三	1905	5,031,503[32]
39th	九十三	1906	3,471,297[32]
41st	一十四	1908	334,705[32]
45th	五十四	1912	5,000,000[32]

Taishō

The following is a circulation figure for coins that were minted during the 3rd year of Taishō's reign. Coins from this period all begin with the Japanese symbol 大正 (Taishō). This was the final year one yen coins were minted in silver, and is a one year type.

• Inscriptions on Japanese coins from this period are read clockwise from right to left:

"Year" ← Number representing year of reign ← Emperor's name (Ex: 年 ← 三十 ← 正大)

Year of reign	Japanese date	Gregorian date	Mintage
3rd	三	1914	11,500,000[34]

Shōwa

1 yen coin from 1948 (year 23)
Design 1 (1948 - 1950)

1 yen coin from 1955 (year 30)
Design 2 (1955 - 1989)

The following are circulation dates which cover Emperor Showa's (Hirohito's) reign. The dates below correspond to the 23rd to the 64th (last) years of his reign. Inscriptions on coins for this period all begin with the kanji characters 昭和 (Shōwa).

These coins are read from left to right:

Emperor's name → Number representing year of reign → "Year" (Ex: 昭和 → 六十二 → 年).

Year of reign	Japanese date	Gregorian date	Mintage[15][lower-alpha 7]
23rd	二十三	1948 (Brass)	451,170,000[35]
24th	二十四	1949 (Brass)
25th	二十五	1950 (Brass)
30th	三十	1955	381,700,000
31st	三十一	1956	500,900,000
32nd	三十二	1957	492,000,000
33rd	三十三	1958	374,900,000
34th	三十四	1959	208,600,000
35th	三十五	1960	300,000,000
36th	三十六	1961	432,400,000
37th	三十七	1962	572,000,000
38th	三十八	1963	788,700,000
39th	三十九	1964	1,665,100,000
40th	四十	1965	1,743,256,000
41st	四十一	1966	807,344,000
42nd	四十二	1967	220,600,000
44th	四十四	1969	184,700,000
45th	四十五	1970	556,400,000
46th	四十六	1971	904,950,000
47th	四十七	1972	1,274,950,000
48th	四十八	1973	1,470,000,000
49th	四十九	1974	1,750,000,000
50th	五十	1975	1,656,150,000
51st	五十一	1976	928,850,000
52nd	五十二	1977	895,000,000
53rd	五十三	1978	864,000,000
54th	五十四	1979	1,015,000,000
55th	五十五	1980	1,145,000,000
56th	五十六	1981	1,206,000,000
57th	五十七	1982	1,017,000,000
58th	五十八	1983	1,086,000,000
59th	五十九	1984	981,850,000
60th	六十	1985	837,150,000
61st	六十一	1986	417,960,000
62nd	六十二	1987	955,775,000
63rd	六十三	1988	1,269,042,000
64th	六十四	1989	116,100,000

Heisei

A one-yen coin of the Heisei era, year 18 (2006)

The following are circulation dates during the reign of Emperor Akihito (Heisei), who reigned from 1989 until his abdication in April 2019. The first year of his reign is marked with a 元 symbol on the coin as a one year type. Coins for this period all begin with the kanji characters 平成 (Heisei). One-yen coins dated between 2011 and 2013 were only released in mint sets. Mintage was briefly resumed in 2014 only for it to be halted again in 2016. No one yen coins were released for circulation for the remainder of Heisei's reign.

These coins are read with from left to right:

Emperor's name → Number representing year of reign → "Year" (e.g. 平成 → 九 → 年).

Year of reign	Japanese date	Gregorian date	Mintage[15][lower-alpha 7]
01 1st	元	1989	2,366,970,000
02 2nd	二	1990	2,768,953,000
03 3rd	三	1991	2,301,120,000
04 4th	四	1992	1,299,130,000
05 5th	五	1993	1,261,240,000
06 6th	六	1994	1,040,767,000
07 7th	七	1995	1,041,874,000
08 8th	八	1996	942,213,000
09 9th	九	1997	783,086,000
10th	十	1998	452,612,000
11th	十一	1999	67,120,000
12th	十二	2000	12,026,000
13th	十三	2001	8,024,000
14th	十四	2002	9,667,000
15th	十五	2003	117,406,000
16th	十六	2004	52,903,000
17th	十七	2005	30,029,000
18th	十八	2006	129,594,000
19th	十九	2007	223,904,000
20th	二十	2008	134,811,000
21st	二十一	2009	48,003,000
22nd	二十二	2010	7,905,000
23rd	二十三	2011	456,000[lower-alpha 8]
24th	二十四	2012	659,000[lower-alpha 8]
25th	二十五	2013	554,000[lower-alpha 8]
26th	二十六	2014	124,013,000
27th	二十七	2015	82,004,000
28th	二十八	2016	574,000[lower-alpha 8]
29th	二十九	2017	477,000[lower-alpha 8]
30th	三十	2018	440,000[lower-alpha 8]
31st	三十一	2019	566,000[lower-alpha 8]

Reiwa

The following are circulation dates in the reign of the current Emperor. Naruhito acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, 2019 and he was formally enthroned on October 22, 2019. Coins for this period all begin with the kanji characters 令和 (Reiwa). The inaugural year coin (2019) was marked 元 (first) and debuted during the summer of that year.[36][37] One yen coins have not been minted for circulation since 2015. Those that are minted are intended for collectors who purchase them at a premium.

These coins are read from left to right:

Emperor's name → Number representing year of reign → Year (e.g. 令和 → 元 → 年).

Year of reign	Japanese date	Gregorian date	Mintage[15][lower-alpha 7]
1st	元	2019	502,000[lower-alpha 8]
2nd	二	2020	TBD

Notes

1. None released in mint sets
2. Metal is melted down into ingots that are then rolled into plates to the thickness of the desired coin, the blanks are then punched out of the plates.[18]
3. The second and final silver coin design was also used during Taishō's reign.
4. Three different major varieties were created in 1870.
5. Two different main varieties exist for coins dated 1892, both of which have to do with the dragon design present on the obverse side of the coin. The first is known as the "early variety" where the dragon's flame extends between the fourth and fifth spine.
6. The second variety is known as the "late variety" where the flame overlaps the third spine of the dragon.
7. Mintages on the Japan Mint website are in thousands
8. Not circulated.[21]

References

1. University of Wisconsin (1964). Japan Report. Consulate General of Japan. p. 10.
2. Edouard Frossard (1878). The Coin Collector's Journal. 3. Scott and Company. p. 40.
3. A. Piatt Andrew, Quarterly Journal of Economics, "The End of the Mexican Dollar", 18:3:321–356, 1904, p. 345
4. Monetary System of Japan. Report and Accompanying Documents of the United States Monetary Commission. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1877. p. 297 & 298.
5. "Collecting Japanese Silver Yen: The Dragon Yen 1870-1914". Antique Marks. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
6. Alfred Stead (1904). Japan by the Japanese. W. Heinemann. p. 326.
7. Gold Standard in International Trade. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1905. p. 485.
8. New Coinage law of Japan. Sound Currency. Sound Currency Committee of the Reform Club. 1899. p. 28 & 29.
9. Krause, Chester L. and Mishler, Clifford: 1996 Standard Catalog of World Coins (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, ISBN 0-87341-357-1), p. 1370.
10. Colin R. Bruce, Marian Moe (1995). Collecting world coins: a full century of circulating issues. Krause Publications. p. 1949.
11. Cornell University (1903). Appletons' Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events. D. Appleton & Company. p. 354.
12. The Bank of Taiwan. Japan as it is. Kokusai Tsushin-Sha. 1915. p. 256.
13. Chester L. Krause & Clifford Mishler. Collecting World Coins 10th edition. Krause Publications. p. 432.
14. "1-yen Aluminum Coin". Japan Mint. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
15. "年銘別貨幣製造枚数" (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Mint. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
16. "Japanese Coins". www.nippon.com. December 6, 2015. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
17. JiJi (September 16, 2018). "Demand for lowly ¥1 coin sinks as consumers take to cashless transactions". Japan Times. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
18. "Coin Production Process 1". Japan Mint. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
19. "景気対策を目的とした政府貨幣増発の帰結" (PDF) (in Japanese). www.murc.jp. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
20. "１円玉原価割れも　金属値上がりでおカネづくり一苦労" (in Japanese). www.nikkei.com. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
21. Richard Giedroyc (October 29, 2018). "End of road for Japan's 1-yen coin". Numismatic News. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
22. "E-Money Uptake Brings ¥1 Coin Production to Near Standstill". Nippon.com. February 1, 2019. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
23. Lester Somera (December 8, 2015). "Understanding the Yen: Bills and Coins". Matcha magazine. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
24. Masahiro Hidaka (October 25, 2017). "Osaka's 1-Yen Sales Attract Shoppers But May Undercut Inflation". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
25. Leo Lewis (January 9, 2019). "Japan's cash addiction will not be easily broken". Financial Times. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
26. "The Fate of the 1 Yen Coin – When will it lose its lustre in Japan?". www.stippy.com. June 24, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
27. "Yr.3(1870) Type I". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
28. "Yr.4(1871)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
29. "Japan Yen Y# 9a". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
30. "Yr.7(1874)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
31. "Japan Yen Y# A25.2". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
32. "Japan Yen Y# A25.3". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
33. "Yr.25(1892) None struck for circulation". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
34. "Japan Yen Y# 38 Yr.3(1914)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
35. "Japan Yen Y# 70 Yr.23(1948)". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
36. "Reiwa coins to debut summer 2019". mainichi.jp. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
37. 1 Yen - Reiwa Numista (https://en.numista.com). Retrieved on 2020-01-18.