Japan 1 Yen Coin

Nicknamed Land of the Rising Sun, JAPAN is at the western edge of the Pacific Rim and the Ring of Fire, which is the area of frequent earthquake and volcanic activity. In regards to its currency, Japanese citizens use the Japanese Yen (¥), which has an ISO 4217 currency code of JPY and is behind only the United States Dollar and Euro for being one of the most traded currencies in the world in the year 2014. The smallest denomination used is a one-gram aluminum 1 Yen coin as shown above. These particular coins (I have two) are among the most simplistic yet sleek entries in my collection. The young tree with newly sprouting branches and leaves represents Japan's societal growth and vitality; this design is the coin's obverse side. Meanwhile, the kanji year is below the circle and number one on the reverse side. Since I am not a speaker and writer of the Japanese language, I could not immediately determine the year on both of these coins. Therefore, I used the Japanese Year Converter on the former AllCalendars.net website, which converts Western years into Japanese years. The 昭和六十三年 inscription on the reverse of my two coins translates to the year 1988. Mystery solved!