Are there any recommended sites that discuss Japanese paper currency?

[bc6]

The sites Ive gone to talk about coins and I want to learn more about paper currency denominations.

Of course I've searched the bowels of the internet but haven't found anything worthy.

[bill937ca]

Wikipedia has images of the coins and bills.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_yen

[RS18U]

@bc6 what is it you would like to know?  There is probably a wealth of info here, especially from those who live in Japan or travel there frequently.  All I can say is that although they have a 2,000 yen note, it is not widely used.  Other than that we have had no questions re currency on any of our 4 trips.

[bc6]

@RS18U Well I think bill937ca may have hit the nail on the head with his link. I don't know the denominations of the Yen banknotes. Do I need a larger wallet to keep my notes in I'm talking real basic stuff lol. As you mentioned about the 2000 yen note what's the deal with that? What's the most common note in Japan maybe I'll find that out when I visit the link bill posted.

 

@bill937ca Thanks for the link. 

[Kamome]

The 2000 yen note was issued in 2000 but not reissued after that. I have a couple of them for commemorative sake, more so my wife. When I first travelled to Japan in the early 2000s they were not hugely common but were in normal circulation. Even when I got my initial currency when I first moved over, a good number of notes were 2000 yen. I ended up exchanging most  with Japanese friends who hadn't had one before. Now, you never see them, I assume they are all in people's houses for prosperity. I wonder whether they reappear more in places like Okinawa as the image on the reverse of the note is of the gate at the castle in Naha which famously caught fire in 2019. This was the only note without a portrait on.

 

In terms of coins

 

¥1 - Very annoying and light. They actually weigh 1 gram and you cannot use them on train ticket machine, buses or vending machines. Seven Eleven now have automated till registers so you can offload them for lunch and snacks etc.. 

¥5 - can't be used in most vending machine, ticket machines   brass gold colour with a hole. They have a kanji 5 on them 五

 

Get rid of 1s and 5s at every opportunity!!!

 

¥10 - Copper with 10 on. The beginning of useful coins. 

¥50 - smaller silver with a hole in the middle.

¥100 - silver with a 100.

 

When 50 and 100 coins are in a wallet, they are not that easy to differentiate until you get them out.

 

Coins with holes in the middle are generally used as prayer coins when people visit shrines and temples. Tradition from the older similar Chinese coins I believe.

 

Notes - All notes are the same height but increasing in width.

 

¥1000 - Blue Ink

¥5000 - Purple Ink, 

¥10000 - Brown Ink, Portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi, founder of Keio University (only know because my son told me literally yesterday)

 

All notes can be used at any sales point, generally without issue. A ¥10000 note can be used for small purchases with change given without resistance. The only places you may have problems would be riding private railways whereby you purchase a ticket onboard. In most cases these days, there is a change machine aboard buses etc..

 

55 minutes ago, bc6 said:

What's the most common note in Japan

Probably depends on how much your earn but I would assume its ¥1000 as you need so many of them. Even my banks ATMs give these out with any denomination not in ¥10000s. If I took out ¥9000, it would tend to dispense 9x ¥1000 rather than 4x ¥1000 and 1x ¥5000 for no apparent reason.

 

[bc6]

@Kamome Thanks for the great intro to Japanese currency and the history of the 2000 Yen banknote. I noticed that the 2K Yen note didn't have a person's face on it too lol seems odd to me go figure. I will eliminate those 1 Yen and 5 Yen coins at every opportunity I can lol. What kind of wallet would you suggest that I carry paper currency in?

[RS18U]

@bc6 thanks for the context.  For our last trip in March we asked our bank for 100,00 yen (we were gone 23 days) and got:

5 x 10,000

7 x 5,000

5 x 2,000

5 x 1,000

 

My wife and I split them and they fit in her purse and my regular wallet; we did not need to have anything special.  We stripped out all the plastic cards we would not use so there was more room (PetroPoints, what are they?).  Had no issues with using the 2,000 yen bills.  And as Kamome notes no problems using the 10,000 yen ones either.  Just be aware that a lot of the transit you use will be exact change only, so be prepared for that with the right coins or a Suci type card although we were on one line that was real cash only (Shimabara Railway).

 

Coins are another thing.  Since a lot of purchases will be under 1,000 yen be prepared for a lot of coins.  And as Kamome says, get ride of the 1 and 5 as fast as you can.  Kamome did not mention it but there is a useful 500 yen coin too.

 

We also found way more use/acceptance of credit cards in the more rural areas we visited this time than in the past so we only had to take out 10,000 yen right at the end of the trip to see us the last 3-4 days for cash.

 

[Gunzel]

New notes are being released in July as well (for 1000, 5000, and 10000 yen notes):

 

https://www.boj.or.jp/en/note_tfjgs/note/n_note/index.htm

 

Old notes are still valid.

[Kamome]

Yes sorry, knew I’d forgotten something. The newer ¥500 have a golden outer and silver inner. Older ones are all gold. Some vending machines can have an issue with the newer ones. Generally this should now be rectified across the board but you may come across the odd one that doesn’t like the new style. 

[bc6]

@Gunzel The new notes and coins look really nice thanks for sharing the link with us.