Japanese Yen (JPY)

Opened in October 1882, the Bank of Japan was born from crisis — 153 private banks had flooded the economy with notes, fueling dangerous inflation. Its first banknote, a ¥10 note, appeared in May 1885. Today the BOJ targets 2% annual inflation, formally adopted in January 2013 after decades of deflation. In September 2026, the policy rate reached 1.25% — remarkable given Japan maintained negative interest rates until March 2024, when the BOJ ended both negative rates and its Yield Curve Control framework in one decisive meeting.

The New Currency Act of 1871 swept away Japan's tangled monetary landscape in a single legislative stroke. One yen equaled 100 sen and 1,000 rin, originally defined as 1.5 grams of gold — a decimal framework modeled on Western systems. The name itself carries meaning: en (円) can mean circle, reflecting the round coins that replaced older irregular shapes. Japan formally adopted the gold standard in 1897, redefining the yen at 0.75 grams of gold and locking into the international monetary architecture of the late nineteenth century.

During the Edo period, Japan's monetary landscape was extraordinarily intricate. Gold, silver, and copper currencies circulated simultaneously, each with independent exchange rates that shifted according to supply and demand. Regional lords issued their own hansatsu paper notes, fragmenting the system further. The famous golden koban served as high-value money, while everyday commerce relied on copper and silver pieces. The Meiji government faced an enormous challenge: unifying centuries of monetary complexity into a single decimal system capable of supporting international trade.

After World War II, the yen was fixed at ¥360 per U.S. dollar under the Bretton Woods system. The 1971 Nixon shock forced revaluation to ¥308, and Japan moved to a full float in February 1973. Four banknotes circulate today — three redesigned on July 3, 2024, featuring the world's first 3-D rotating portrait holograms on currency. The ¥1,000 note carries Hokusai's iconic Great Wave off Kanagawa on its reverse. Of the 56 banknote types issued since 1885, a striking 25 remain legal tender — Japan has never mass-cancelled an older series.