Tokyo Money
When in Tokyo, money in it's hard cash form is an essential item to have handy in your pocket. One thing you can be pretty sure of here is that you're safe to carry your wad with you. Common sense rules still apply - goes without saying right? - but issues of stealing and the like are still relatively rare occurences in this society.
Japanese Currency
The currency of Japan is the Japanese yen. In the Western or romanized system of symbols, the sign for the yen is ¥. The yen itself was first established in 1872 by the Meiji Governmnent in a bid to standardize the Japanese currency in line with Western practices.
The yen is found in coin and note form in the following denominations:
- Coins - ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥50, ¥100, and ¥500
- Notes - ¥1,000, ¥2,000, ¥5,000, and ¥10,000
You need to plan when and where you will get hold of your money. If you are coming from a society that is largely card and credit driven, Tokyo banks can be quite a shock to the system.
In my first 12 months here, I happened to fall sick at Oshogatsu - New Year - one of the major festivals on the Japanese calendar. It never even occurred to me that I may not be able to withdraw money from my bank - but that's exactly what happened. My bank, ATMs, everything - were closed for 3 days straight. At the time I was sharing an apartment with a friend. We ended up ransacking our coin jar and I just had enough cash to get the medication I needed. You should have seen the look on the receptionist's face though when we went to pay! Not impressed were the words that sprung to mind.
The word 'yen' is a result of the Portuguese influence on the Japanese language. The true Japanese word is 'en' and this is how you will hear people say the word when in Japan. The word itself means 'round' and was chosen to reflect the shape of the the coin when the new currency was introduced in 1872. The 'y' was added by the Portuguese to several words that started with 'e' in Japanese, (the place name Ebisu became Yebisu), to make the words easier to understand within the context of a Western phonetic system. Yes - for some reason I seem to acquire these quirky pieces of knowledge!
On a final note about Tokyo money, be aware that if, you want to bring in, or send out, more than ¥1,000,000 in Japanese currency, you will need to complete a customs declaration.
