Currency of Japan

The circulated currency of Japan is Yen and its ISO code is JPY. The currency started to circulate in Japan from 8th century and before this period the mediums of exchange in this country were rice and other commodities. Yen is consists of 10,000, 5000 and 1000 banknotes and 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 yen coins. Some other medium of exchanges are traveler’s check, which is acceptable at various hotels and shops. History of Japanese currency emerged from many mediums.

From 8th to 10th century, the use of metallic currency started with coin minting. The first official coin was minted in 708 CE on the orders of Imperial ruler of that time, Empress Gemmei. In 760 CE, this metallic coinage was replaced with the copper coin minting whose worth was ten times more than the worth of previous currency. At the end of the 10th century, due to the political instability in the country, the national currency of Japan reverted to rice. The last coin emission in Japan was in 958 whose value was much lower and their usage was soon debased. At the start of 12th century, the expansion of financial transactions required the use of currency in a valuable format. For this purpose, the importation of Chinese currency into Japan came into existence. This era prevailed from 12th century to 17th century. Some coins were also imported from Annam and Korea. The current Japanese Yes started to act as medium of exchange from 1868.

Japan Yen