The is the smallest denomination of the

Japanese yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the ...

currency. Historically they were initially 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 A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from th ...

, and competing against the

Mexican dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...

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 until 1914 for backing up currency. One yen coins were not made again until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in the late 1940s for a brief period of time. The current one yen coin design was first minted in 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 cent, the United States one-cent coin (symbol: ¢), often called the "penny", is a unit of currency equaling one one-hundredth of a United States dollar. It has been the lowest face-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition ...

, the

Japan Mint The is an Independent Administrative Institution of the Japanese government, responsible for producing and circulating the coins of Japan. The agency has its head office in Osaka with branches in Saitama and Hiroshima. The Japan Mint does no ...

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. This came at a time when a new decimal system was put into place, and a modern mint was established at

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. The yen was officially adopted by the Meiji government in an act signed on June 27, 1871. While silver one yen coins are dated 1870, this indicates their mintage date at the San Francisco Mint as the coins were not issued until the following year. Gold one yen coins dated 1871 were not minted until 1872 at the newly formed Osaka mint. No silver one yen coins were struck in 1873 as the year was devoted to turning out gold pieces domestically. The exclusive minting of gold coins during this time was reflective of the Japanese government's wish to switch to the

in order to keep up with countries in North America and Europe. 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

. During the same year gold bullion rose to a slight premium which caused gold coin production as a whole to rapidly fall off. It was reported in the

Quarterly Journal of Economics ''The Quarterly Journal of Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the Oxford University Press for the Harvard University Department of Economics. Its current editors-in-chief are Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan ...

that by 1876 more gold coins were exported to foreign countries than for use domestically. Gold coinage finally came to an end in 1877 as the Japanese government was forced off the gold standard due to the cost of the Satsuma Rebellion. Japan ultimately chose to go with a

bimetallic standard Bimetallism, also known as the bimetallic standard, is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent to certain quantities of two metals, typically gold and silver, creating a fixed rate of exchange be ...

in 1878, which gave the one yen silver coin legal tender status throughout the country. From 1878 to 1897, large amounts of one yen coins were struck as the declining price of silver increased their demand. The fluctuations over the price of silver eventually made trade with Europe and the United States unreliable. After years of advisement, the Japanese government officially switched back to the gold standard on October 1, 1897 as a solution to the trading problem. Silver one yen coins were thus officially demonetized with granted leeway time until July 31, 1898 for those wanting to trade the coins for gold. The remaining silver coins in circulation were then either melted down to provide bullion for subsidiary coins, or were countermarked "Gin" for use in Japanese-occupied

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

, and Lüshunkou. Silver one yen coins were not stuck again until 1901 when they served as a reserve fund for "Bank of Formosa" notes. Due to the fluctuations in price between silver and gold, this practice came to an end in 1904. 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 Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...

one-yen coin. 451,170,000 coins were minted until production stopped in 1950. 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. The current

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

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 are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

''. 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 in 1968 due to excessive production. 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 amounts. 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 for one yen coins. The rising price of aluminum had started to generate a commercial loss for the Japan Mint. In 2009, unsuccessful measures that included raising money from the private sector were tried in order to lower the cost. 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 set A coin set, or mint set, is a collection of Uncirculated or Proof coins, released by a mint. Such sets are usually released annually and often called a year set. They include sets of all the circulating coins of that year, as well as sets of comme ...

s for coin collectors. Production resumed in 2014 when the consumption tax was raised again to 8%, causing sums to be less rounded. The cost of producing each one yen coin was reported to be 3 yen as early as 2015. In the following year, more cashless transactions caused the ministry to stop issuing new one yen coins for circulation again. No coins have been made since 2016 apart from those in collectable mint sets. 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 Surface tension is the tendency of liquid surfaces at rest to shrink into the minimum surface area possible. Surface tension is what allows objects with a higher density than water such as razor blades and insects (e.g. water striders) t ...

and thus can also float.

Elimination proposal & public opinion

On February 25, 2021 CDP leader Kenta Izumi proposed to abolish 1 and 5-yen coins due to the fee involved with depositing them at banks. Izumi's issue was that a fee of 550 yen is incurred at most major banks for deposits involving 101 coins or more. Taro Aso, who was at the time the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

pushed back on the notion stating "we have no plans to abolish it immediately" as there is a demand for small value transactions. It was reported in October 2017 that one yen coins remained popular in places like

, where the coins are traditionally used for these types of merchant transactions. According to correspondent Leo Lewis of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', 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.

Types and specifications

Surface tension - Japanese 1 Yen alminium coin on water

Circulation figures

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)

Gold

Silver

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)

Shōwa

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).

Heisei

The following are circulation dates during the reign of Emperor

Akihito is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 7 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. He presided over the Heisei era, ''Heisei'' being an expression of achieving peace worldwide. B ...

(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).

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. 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).