The is an Independent Administrative Institution of the

Japanese government The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary state, containing forty- ...

, responsible for producing and circulating the

coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The agency has its head office in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

with branches in Saitama and

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

. The Japan Mint does not produce

paper money Paper money, often referred to as a note or a bill (North American English), is a type of negotiable promissory note that is payable to the bearer on demand, making it a form of currency. The main types of paper money are government notes, which ...

; that responsibility belongs to the National Printing Bureau.

History

Amongst the first acts of the Meiji government was the establishment of the Imperial Japanese Mint as a constructive step towards modernising Japan's circulating currency. In the early Meiji era, paper currency was initially printed by Dondorf and Naumann in Germany. The European production was inspected and sealed by Banknote Annex Office of the Ministry of Finance. A proposal to construct a banknote manufacturing plant was submitted to Grand Council of State in May 1874; and construction was approved in December of that same year. A two-story Western red

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

building was completed in October 1876. Over the course of decades, the Mint activities have expanded to include the production of Japanese orders (decorations), medals of honor and metallic art objects, the analysis and testing of metal ores and

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

s, and the fineness certification of

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high Value (economics), economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less reactivity (chemistry), chemically reac ...

wares ( hallmarking). The Mint became an Incorporated Administrative Agency on April 1, 2003.

Osaka Head Office

* 1871: After an inaugural ceremony was held in Kawasaki, Osaka on 4 April, the actual work of minting coins began. The mint's work was urgently necessary to rectify confusion over coins which was a recurrent feature of the

Tokugawa period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

.National Archives of Japan, Digital Gallery website: "Photograph of Osaka Mint Opening Ceremony"

Saitama Branch

1879: This branch of the Mint was set up in the Ministry of Finance building. The primary function of this office was to accept

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

to be made into

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

s which would then be returned to the bearer; however the sub-branch was abolished in 1907. * 1929: The branch is established at Kōjimachi-ku,

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. The primary function of this office focused on certifying the fineness certification of precious metal wares. * 1939: The branch moved to Toshima-ku to enable the expansion of its operations. * 2016: The branch moved to the present address in Saitama.

Hiroshima Branch

* 1942: The construction of a minting plant in Hiroshima Prefecture was decided with the aim of minting coins in Japan for various

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

n countries. * 1945: The minting of coins in

was initially begun in February; but production was stopped later in that year because of an atomic bombing. * 1946: Operations resumed at the present address. * 1948: The branch becomes capable of managing the entire coinage process.

Standards

Japan Mint has sought to bring its operations within an ambit proposed by the International Standard for Quality Management System and Environmental Management System (

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

References

External links

Japan Mint English web site

see documents and images relating to Meiji era mint
Building a national currency (1868-1899)
{{Authority control Mints (currency) Mint Mint 1871 establishments in Japan Japanese companies established in 1871