Silver Price in Japanese Yen

The Japanese yen (JPY) is the national currency of the Japan. It differs from most important currencies in that it is not divisible into cents. The smallest denomination is one unit. The word yen means round object and is used by the Japanese to refer to all money, even money of foreign countries.

Japan in the 19th century was in a similar situation to its Asian neighbors. The currency most commonly used was the Spanish dollar. Japan was also using an ancient currency system called Tokugawa coinage. This complex system used gold, silver and bronze coins. The yen was introduced in 1871 as a silver and gold goin currency. Its value was defined as 0.78 troy ounces of .9999 fine silver or 1.5 grams of 0.999 fine gold. The yen was pegged to the Spanish dollar at 1:1 and the ¥5 piece was equivalent to the five peso Argentine gold coin. Japan halted production of silver yen coins in 1938. During World War II the yen lost most of its worth as Japan was forced to excessively print currency to pay for the costs of occupation and war. After World War II the yen continued losing value and it was pegged to the US dollar in 1949 in an attempt to achieve price stability. Japan hence abandoned the bimetallic standard.

Following the devaluation during WWII and the energy crisis of the 1970′s, during which the yen’s value plummeted against commodities, the yen is one of the few currencies that has risen in value during the past few decades. The yen is one of the only currencies against which gold has not broken its high of 1980. The yen was floated in 1973 as the US abandoned the Bretton Woods system and became fiat money.

Silver prices in Japanese yen hover around ¥2,500 per ounce.

Bullion coins issued by Japan since 1870 include:

Silver 5, 10, 20 and 50 sen coins
¥1 silver coins (24.26 grams of .999 fine silver)
¥1 gold coins (1.5 grams of .999 fine gold)
¥2, 5, 10 and 20 gold coins

Today’s yen coins are nothing more than scrap metal. The aluminum ¥1 coin even floats on water.

The Japan Mint periodically produces commemorative bullion coins.