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.

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 $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.

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

The yen was pegged at 1 US dollar = 360 yen from April 25, 1949, to until 1971 when the Bretton Woods system collapsed and the value of the Yen began to float. As of June 2004, there are about 109 yen to the US dollar, and about 200 yen to the British pound. After the Plaza Accord of 1985, the yen apreciated against the dollar.

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.

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.

Currently, the following coins and bills are in circulation: 1 yen coin, 5 yen coin, 10 yen coin, 50 yen coin, 100 yen coin, 500 yen coin, 1000 yen bill, 2000 yen bill, 5000 yen bill, 10000 yen bill. 500 yen coins are probably the highest valued coins to be used regularly in the world; the United States's largest standard coin is worth 26 yen, the European Union's largest is worth 260 yen, and the United Kingdom's largest is worth 388 yen (as of January 2005).

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 Noguchi Hideyo. 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.

Exchange rates over time

The table below shows the number of yen per U.S. dollar (rounded to the nearest yen).

The table below shows the number of yen per Pound Sterling (rounded to the nearest yen).

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)