Japan is different from other countries in the way that it categorises its past. It defines periods in its history with names, and since 1868, has done so when the Emperor of Japan takes the throne. There have been five such periods since the 1868 Meiji Period commenced, with the current Reiwa period starting in 2019 with [...]
Due to take place in Osaka, Japan over 184 days from April 13th 2025, EXPO 2025 will showcase technologies from around the world meant for the betterment of mankind, and a more harmonious balance between us, and nature. As cynics, we think it'll be more of a token showing by the world's biggest corporations, designed to placate opinion, while [...]
The Japan Mint announces the winners of its International Design Competition for 2016 For the past few years, the Japan Mint has been hosting an International Coin Design Competition in which designers, both current and budding, are encouraged to enter their coin designs to win an award. There are two categories, a general one and a [...]
A four-coin series that debuted last August and finished this April, we're rectifying our lack of coverage to date with some details of the whole of this unusual and interesting set of coins. Entitled the "Great East Japan Earthquake Reconstruction Project", the Japan Mint has done a fine job with these. They were launched in four [...]
One of the first series of coins we did one of our exhaustive Coin Series Profiles on, the Japan Mints excellent 47 Prefectures coins have always offered an intriguing look at a country many in the West know comparitively little of. As the name suggest, this is a series of 47 coloured silver coins, each depicting one of the [...]
Nagasaki is the latest coin in the Japan Mints epic 47 Prefectures series. Each coin celebrates one of the 47 regions of Japan with imagery that is most associated with it. Available in a single coin set or as a deluxe set with five stamps, just 10% of the admittedly quite hefty 100,000 mintage is available outside of Japan. [...]
The flagship series of the Japan Mint, ’47 Prefectures’ is a range of forty seven coloured silver coins, each of which showcases a specific district in the country. Each coin depicts iconic characteristics of the prefecture in question, usually flora, fauna, a historical event or a natural landmark. With 40 coins having been released to date, there are only [...]
The flagship series of the Japan Mint, '47 Prefectures' is a range of forty seven coloured silver coins, each of which showcases a specific district in the country. Each coin depicts iconic characteristics of the prefecture in question, usually flora, fauna, a historical event or a natural landmark. With 38 coins having been released to date, we're a long [...]
It's time for a new coin celebrating relationships between two countries and the latest commemoration is for 60 years of diplomatic ones between South-East Asian countries, Laos and Japan. Back in 2010 the two states signed up to a 'comprehensive partnership'. Just a couple of weeks ago, that was upgraded to a 'strategic partnership' signalling Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe's [...]
