Talk:Japanese yen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of the WikiProject Numismatics, which is an attempt to facilitate the categorization and creation of accurate and formal Numismatism-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate please visit the project page, where you can join and see a list of open tasks to help with.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale.
High	This article has been rated as high-importance on the importance scale.

Japanese yen is included in the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection, or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version. Please maintain high quality standards and, if possible, stick to GFDL-compatible images.

	Japanese yen is part of WikiProject Japan, a project to improve all Japan-related articles. If you would like to help improve this and other Japan-related articles, please join the project. All interested editors are welcome.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the quality scale.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance for this Project's importance scale.
Japan To-do: edit purge Improve to Featured status Japan Improve ASIMO Burakumin and Buraku Liberation League Takako Doi Chikamatsu Monzaemon Education in Japan Japanese architecture Japanese art Japanese robotics Japanese strategic planning for the Pacific (1905-1940) List of Emperors of Japan (transl. from ja) Emperor Yozei of Japan List of Japanese artists Namioka, Aomori Nihonjinron Sadako Ogata Ōishi Yoshio Politics of Japan Yagyu Shinkage-ryu Center Shiken (大学入試センター試験) More... Review First Sino-Japanese War Hinduism in Japan Inland Sea Kigo Narihira Santosen Temple Sazae-san Stroke order Heizo Takenaka Giovanni Battista Sidotti Requests See Requested articles Listed for deletion See this page, this page, and this page for lists. Grammar corrections Gaijin Takefuji Need images Every prefecture, see Subdivisions of Japan Sendai - Add demographic images More... Translate from Japanese Wikipedia Iemoto (家元) Blue Ribbon Award (Film) (ブルーリボン賞 (映画)) Gesaku (ja:戯作) More... Transliterations missing for Military ranks and insignia of the Japan Self-Defense Forces Wikify Ibaraki University Ikawa, Shizuoka Ima, Ai ni Yukimasu Japanese sculpture Mori Goro Organization of the Imperial Japanese Central China Army Organization of the Imperial Japanese North China Army Sangaria Shaken Takefuji Vote: Talk:Dokdo#Rename vote Watch this list — Edit this list

The article states:

After the Plaza Accord of 1985, the yen depreciated against the dollar.

Pardon me I'm not native English speaker. Isn't this opposite? Fukumoto 13:53, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Sorry, it is my mistake. I changed the sentence. Thanks for your comment. --Youssef 09:02, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)~

Thanks. I think Plaza Accord has a similar line as well. Fukumoto 14:59, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Concerning the romanization of the names with the extra "y" present, I've honestly never seen them before. I assumed that the y in yen was an artifact due to the sound, never part of any official system. anyone have confirmation on this? - Random reader 19:14, 01 Dec 2004 (CST)

It was once quite common. Compare, for example, Daniel Inouye. Nik42 02:55, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

---

I added what kind of coins and bills are in the circulation. As I recall, a Kanji for Yen was a simplified character of Chinese Won. Does anyone know otherwise? Revth 06:09, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

---

What is the reference being used for the exchange rates section? CJewell (talk) 19:02, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 obverse/reverse 2 Conversion table over time 3 Yuan 4 "Legally enforceable"? 5 500-Yen Bill 6 Endaka 7 2,000 Yen Bill 8 The latinised symbol 9 ¥5000 and ¥10,000 banknote 10 Etymology section 11 Milled ¥10 12 Sen and rin

[edit] obverse/reverse

See Japan Mint Q&A "How do you decide the obverse and reverse of coins?"
Every Japanese coin shows the date of manufacture, on its reverse side.
The Phoenix Hall side of the 10 yen coin, which doesn't show the date of manufacture, is obverse.

I uploaded a single file with both sides. Fg2 04:08, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Conversion table over time

I recommend ditching the conversion rate table as it is difficult to maintain and simply provide a link to a web site which maintains historical conversion rates. 68.199.35.139 18:05, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Maybe a table with annual averages would be better. Killer Swath 07:15, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yuan

In Dollar:

In China, base unit of the official currency Renminbi is called "Yuan" (元 or 圆 , with a symbol ¥). The "yuan" is, in fact, a colloquial form of the word "dollar". Spanish dollars were widely circulated in China in the late 19th century. When China adopted its the first national currency in 1914, the base unit was called "Yuan" , which means "dollar". A "yuan" at that time was a coin containing exactly the same amount of silver as a Spanish dollar.

In the article:

The yen was originally written as the same way as the Chinese Yuan (圓 pinyin yuan2). Modern Japanese writings use a character (円) which is different from the one used in simplified Chinese (元). The Latinized symbol for the Yen however, is identical to the one for the Yuan, although the PRC tends to use one crossbar instead of two.

Yen literally means a "round object" in Japanese, as the Yuan in Chinese.

--Error 23:56, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Legally enforceable"?

The article currently claims that The yen was legally defined as 0.8667 troy ounces (26.956 g) of silver, a definition that is still legally enforceable today. What exactly is this supposed to mean? Good luck taking a one-yen coin to the Bank of Japan and demanding to get 27 grams of silver in exchange! Jpatokal 16:05, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

I wondered that myself. Especially since Japan switched over to the gold standard in the 1890's, it seems odd that the silver definition would've remained enforceable even a hundred years ago, much less today Nik42 02:34, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 500-Yen Bill

When was the 500-yen bill discontinued? Nik42 08:16, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Found it! 1994 Nik42 06:53, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Endaka

The article contained the sentence "Japan has become so used to the appreciation, it has coined the term endaka, or appreciation of the yen, and has employed the Bank of Japan to intervene to reduce its value, a tactic recently copied by much the rest of the Far East." I'm moving the sentence here with some questions.

First, did the term endaka arise in response to Japan's becoming used to appreciation? Daily reports of exchange rates have the terms endaka and enyasu as a pair; my guess is that the terminology predated the prolonged appreciation and predated their becoming used to it.

Second, is the sentence logically sound? That is, is employing the BoJ to reduce the value a sign that Japan has become used to appreciation, or is it a sign of the opposite?

Finally, what technique did much of the rest of the Far East copy --- using the Bank of Japan? Is there a way to salvage this sentence?

Fg2 21:55, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 2,000 Yen Bill

The article states that larger cash registers were needed for the 2,000-yen bill. But, the 500-yen bill was only suspended in 1994. So, it seems to me that there should already have been an empty slot left over. Did they replace their cash registers after the 500-yen bill was removed or what? Nik42 18:14, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

Good question. Now I started wondering that too. I'm guessing the reason was that the 500 yen coin was issued as early as 1982. And in the 18 years until 2000, new stores opened, new cash registers replaced the old ones.... The first (and last) time I visited Japan in 1992, I only saw 500 yen coin, not a bill. --Chochopk 21:13, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Current shops in Japan almost always only have three slots for banknotes in their cash registers, so the ¥2000 yen notes present a problem. I have lived in Japan for almost a year without seeing a single one of them, so they must be really rare. (58.188.97.134 14:41, 31 January 2007 (UTC))

Do you know how fast they replace stuff in Japan? You can get ¥2000 notes at a bank if you wan them but you never see them in circulation. Jimp 07:33, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

I have seen a couple in circulation in my time, but they are very rare. --ShizuokaSensei 07:42, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Okay ... almost never ... in fact about a year ago I saw a whole bunch of them which had come out of an ATM & I s'pose that counts as circulation. Jimp 08:34, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

I believe the 1-2-5-10 set up is optimal for every currency. For every ¥2000 note printed, it saves 2 pieces of ¥1000 notes. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 08:00, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

I too prefer the 1-2-5-10 set up. I don't know whether it's "optimal": if you had a ¥7000 note as well you'll make another saving. The Cook Islands have a $3 note. There's something to be said for 1-3-10 over 1-5-10. What I find confusing, though, are quarters. Of course, this all only applies to decimal currency, 1-2-5-10 is no good if you're dealing with 12 pennies to the shilling. Jimp 08:34, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

If you're interested in this topic, you might be interested in the report I wrote on what should be done to the U.S. currency. Some of those are direct copy from Wikipedia, I admit. But the comparative study and some other stuff are original. I wish I could put it in my user page so that everyone can review and edit. But unfortunately, it is against Wikipedia:User page. Nevertheless, I welcome any suggestion, from grammatical mistake to overall content. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 12:23, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

10-25-50 seems as useful to me as 10-20-50, I don't see how one is better than the other. They both involve a step of 1:2 and a step of 1:2½. Though, admittedly, it is a peculiar historical vestige that we have 25 in coins, but 2 and 20 in bills. (Though there was once a $2½ gold coin)

Inflation is inevitable. Eventually, 10¢ will become the smallest unit of account. That will leave 25¢ in an awkward position. While that is a point, a similar problem arises with 10-20-50. Supposing that the half-dollar becomes more widely used, we'd have .01-.05.-.10-.25-.50 then .05-.10-.25-.50, then .25-.50, then .50. Under a 10-20-50 system, we'd have .01-.05.-.10-.20-.50; .05-.10-.20-.50; .10-.20-.50; .50 In both cases, a point arises where two coins have to dropped at the same time, and the value of the smallest coin jumps fivefold. The nickle and dime in a system like the present one, or the dime and "fifth" in yours. Replacing the quarter with a fifth would be an awkward transitional period, with two coins of such very similar value.

By the way, do you know that the presidential $1 coin is the first coin to have Arabic numeral? Incorrect, actually. A number of early US coins had numerals on them. For example, early 19th century dimes had "10 c." written on them.

I'd also suggest polymer instead of paper for banknotes. And perhaps a $200 or even $500 bill. Nik42 07:44, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Let's take this discussion to my talk page. --ChoChoPK (球球PK) (talk | contrib) 19:30, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, my friend moved to Japan three years ago and he wonders if they even exist. Fentoro 04:39, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The latinised symbol

I don't understnad why this ¥ symbol anything to do with latin--Scott3 09:39, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

The "Y" underneath is a letter of the Latin (Roman) alphabet, not Japanese script. Jpatokal 13:38, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] ¥5000 and ¥10,000 banknote

Can someone provide a source that states the ¥5000 and ¥10,000 banknotes issued in 1957 and 1958 belog to series C but not B? --Chochopk 21:13, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Because Series C of Japanese banknotes have a same blank space or blank oval as Series 2004A of U.S. $10 bills have. The blank space or oval makes us easy to idetify a watermark. And Series C banknotes have a new type of watermark, known as black watermark "kuro sukashi" (黒すかし, "kuro sukashi"^?).

See webpages showing below: Nagoya branch of Bank of Japan

• Series B [1]
• Series C [2]
• The booklet distributed in Aichi Expo in 2005 [3] - See pp.24-25

They are written in Japanese. --Tan90deg 17:15, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. --Chochopk 19:25, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology section

I just had a go at improving the flow of this section as it was currently repeating itself re: the western transliteration of the word and the origin of the Y. I also cut back the further examples of the extra Y to three as to me it's just a sidenote and I felt listing five or six was needless. I hope people feel that section has better flow to it now. Feel free to shoot me down in flames if not. :-) ShizuokaSensei 11:11, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Milled ¥10

Some older ¥10 coins have a milled edge. Just a comment. I can try to find one and scan if you want. --Apoc2400 12:17, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I have a couple of those in my desk at work, too. The ja: 10 yen article says that 1959 was the first year for the non-milled variety, but, nothing about whether the mass/thickness/composition changed. Neier 13:13, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sen and rin

Are sen and rin still officially subunits, or were they abolished along with the coins and banknotes in those denominations in 1954? Nik42 04:40, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure how a virtual unit can be "official" or otherwise, but eg. stock and foreign exchange prices are still quoted in sen. Rin seem to be pretty thoroughly obsolete though. Jpatokal 05:42, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

It would be official if the currency law states sen and rin as subdivisions, the way, e.g., US law gives dimes, cents, and mils as subdivisions of the dollar. So, the question is, did the law eliminating those coins also repeal the provisions concerning subdivisions of the yen? Nik42 06:00, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

The Japanese Wikipedia quoth:

   * 銭…1円の100分の1（1円＝100銭）
   * 厘…1円の1000分の1、1銭の10分の1（1円＝1000厘、1銭＝10厘）

が存在するが、1953年に法律によって小額硬貨が整理された際に、事実上の使用・流通禁止処分が取られており、今日では為替や株式の取引で銭が仮想的に使用されるにすぎない。

 ...and...

1953年（昭和28年）の「小額通貨の整理及び支払金の端数計算に関する法律」により流通及び使用が禁止され、現在では主に、為替や株価などの端数を表現するための単位として使われる。

...which means that the physical coins are no longer legal tender and may not be used as such, but the units themselves remain in use for stock price fractions and such. Here's the full text of the law if reading great big slabs of legal Japanese is your idea of a good time... Jpatokal 06:35, 8 January 2007 (UTC)