A 1,000 yen note, featuring the portrait of Natsume Soseki. New yen notes entered circulation, replacing these, on November 1, 2004.

Yen is the currency used in Japan. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the United States Dollar and Euro. In Japanese it is usually pronounced "en", but the pronunciation "yen" is standard in English. The ISO 4217 codes for the yen are JPY and 392. The Latinised symbol is ¥, while in Japanese it is written with the kanji 円. Japanese 1000 yen bill with portrait of Natsume Soseki File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Japanese 1000 yen bill with portrait of Natsume Soseki File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Natsume Soseki (夏目 漱石 Natsume Sōseki, 1867 - 1916) was the pen-name of Natsume Kinnosuke (夏目金之助 Natsume Kinnosuke), who is widely considered to be the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji Era. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A reserve currency is a currency which is held in significant quantities by other governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... ISO 4217 is an international standard describing three letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO. The first two letters of the code are the two letters of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (which are similar to those used... The characters for Kanji, lit. ...

The yen was introduced by the Meiji government (Meiji 4) as a system resembling those in Europe; yen replaced the overly complex monetary system of the Edo Period. The New Currency Act of 1871 stipulated the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen (1, 圓), sen (1/100, 錢), and rin (1/1000, 厘), with the coins being round and cast as in the West. (The sen and the rin were eventually taken out of circulation in 1954.) While not a unit of official currency, for large quantities of yen the abbreviaton man is used, in the same way as values in the United States are often quoted or rounded off to thousands (given the man's smaller value, it is much more common). One man yen is equal to 10,000 yen, or approximately US$97 (January 2005). The yen was legally defined as 0.8667 troy ounces (26.956 g) of silver, a definition that is still legally enforceable today. The Act also moved Japan onto the Gold Standard. History of Japan Paleolithic Jomon Yayoi Yamato period ---Kofun period ---Asuka period Nara period Heian period Kamakura period Muromachi period Azuchi-Momoyama period ---Nanban period Edo period Meiji period Taisho period Showa period ---Japanese expansionism ---Occupied Japan ---Post-Occupation Japan Heisei The Meiji period (Japanese: Meiji Jidai 明治時代 ) (1868–1912... World map showing location of Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is geologically and geographically a peninsula, forming the westernmost part of Eurasia. ... History of Japan Paleolithic Jomon Yayoi Yamato period ---Kofun period ---Asuka period Nara period Heian period Kamakura period Muromachi period Azuchi-Momoyama period ---Nanban period Edo period Meiji period Taisho period Showa period ---Japanese expansionism ---Occupied Japan ---Post-Occupation Japan Heisei The Edo period (江戸時代) is a division of Japanese... 1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1954 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Troy weight is a system of units of mass customarily used for precious metals and gemstones. ... 1922 U.S. gold certificate The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. ...

Japanese 10 yen coin (obverse) showing Phoenix Hall of Byodoin

The yen was pegged at 1 US dollar = ¥360 from April 25, 1949, to until 1971 when the Bretton Woods system collapsed and the value of the Yen began to float. As of March 2005, there are about ¥105 to the US dollar, about ¥139 to the Euro, and about ¥201 to the pound sterling. After the Plaza Accord of 1985, the yen appreciated against the dollar. Japanese 10 yen coin (reverse) showing Byodoin Phoenix Hall I scanned this on May 30, 2004. ... Japanese 10 yen coin (reverse) showing Byodoin Phoenix Hall I scanned this on May 30, 2004. ... This article or section should be merged with Byodo-In Temple Built in 998 in the Heian period, Byōdōin (平等院) is a temple in the city of Uji in Kyoto prefecture in Japan. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve European Union member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. ... The pound sterling, which strictly speaking refers to basic currency unit of sterling, now the pound, can generally refer to the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ... The Plaza Accord was an agreement signed on September 22, 1985 by the then G-5 nations (France, West Germany, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom). ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. The renminbi (Traditional Chinese: 人民幣, Simplified Chinese: 人民币, literally means peoples currency) is the legal tender in the mainland of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Pinyin (拼音, pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration to roman script) for Standard Mandarin used in the... In the technical terminology of political science the PRC was a communist state for much of the 20th century, and is still considered a communist state by many, though not all, political scientists. ...

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

The spelling and pronunciation with the letter y are based on romanization of an obsolete writing of the word. The same combination occurs in words such as Uyeda, Iyeyasu and Inouye. Like the spellings of names of people outside Japan, the romanization of yen has become a permanent feature. A romanization or latinization is a system for representing a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, where the original word or language used a different writing system. ...

Currently, the following denominations are in circulation: coins worth 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500 yen; and bills worth 1000, 2000, 5000, and 10,000 yen. 500 yen coins are probably the highest valued coins to be used regularly in the world (US$4.77, €3.59, £2.49). The United States's largest-valued commonly-used coin (25¢) is worth 26 yen; the European Union's largest (€2) is worth ¥279, and the United Kingdom's largest (£2) is worth ¥402 (as of March 2005). The highest valued bill, the 10,000 yen bill, is worth just a little bit less than the U.S. $100 bill, the highest denomination of currently circulating U.S. currency.

On various occasions, special coins are minted using gold and silver with various face values. Even though they can be used, they are treated as collectibles.

On November 1, 2004, the Bank of Japan introduced new paper currency. The 10,000 yen bill remains 76×160 mm and has a portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi on the obverse. The 5,000 yen bill measures 76×156 mm (1 mm longer than its predecessor) with a portrait of Higuchi Ichiyo. The 1,000 yen bill, at 76×150 mm is unchanged in size, and bears the likeness of Hideyo Noguchi. These three notes join the 76×154 mm 2,000 yen note of July 19, 2000 and replace the designs that entered circulation on November 1, 1984. November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Bank of Japan has its headquarters in this building in Tokyo. ... Fukuzawa Yukichi, c. ... Higuchi Ichiyō (樋口 一葉 Higuchi Ichiyō, May 2, 1872 - November 23, 1896) is the pen name of the Japanese author Higuchi Natsu (樋口奈津 Higuchi Natsu). ... Hideyo Noguchi (野口英世, otherwise known as Seisaku Noguchi) (1876 - 1928) was a U.S. (Japanese-born) bacteriologist. ... July 19 is the 200th day (201st in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 165 days remaining. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 1 is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 60 days remaining. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Exchange rates over time

The table below shows the number of yen per U.S. dollar. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ...

The table below shows the number of yen per Pound Sterling (rounded to the nearest yen). The pound sterling, which strictly speaking refers to basic currency unit of sterling, now the pound, can generally refer to the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ...

External link

• Japanese currency FAQ (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/english_htmls/faq.htm) in Currency Museum, Bank of Japan (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/english_htmls/index.htm)