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Julian Ryall

The advent of electronic money and payments via the internet, on top of the widespread use of credit cards in Japan, means that the public is using far fewer coins and banknotes than in the past.
Japan Mint, which has been tasked with producing all the coins in circulation domestically since April 1871, is consequently having to find new markets in which to show off its design and technical skills.
And it has.
"The number of coins we issue has been decreasing and some people put that down to the influence of e-money and credit cards, as well as a broader decline in the Japanese population, but we cannot be sure of the real reason," Kazuya Izumi, director of the Overseas Business Division of the mint, said.
In 2012, at the instruction of the Ministry of Finance, the Osaka-based mint issued 951 million coins; the following year, that fell to 849 million coins.
The answer has been to develop new markets overseas, building on a reputation for quality.
"The Japan Mint has exerted great efforts to receive orders for coins from foreign currency authorities in recent years," said Izumi.
"Our production technologies, such as those to provide latent images and the helically milled edge that have been applied to the 500 yen coin, are greatly admired in the world."
Since 2008, three coins produced by the mint have won the Mint Directors' Coin Competition, held as part of the annual Mint Directors' Conference.
As well as being eye-catching, the coins need to incorporate increasingly sophisticated measures to defeat counterfeiters.
And even though banknotes are the preferred target of counterfeiters, the 500 yen coin, worth HK$35.50, is worth copying.
In the late 1990s, it was realised that the 500 yen coin was almost identical in size to a South Korean coin with a far lower value and, with some drilling to reduce the weight, could be inserted into vending machines. When the transaction was cancelled, a genuine 500 yen coin was returned.
In 2000, the mint released a replacement coin that incorporates some of the most sophisticated anti-counterfeiting measures in the world.
Microlines that are invisible to the naked eye have been worked into the new design, along with microdots, miniscule letters, the helically, or spirally, milled edge and an inner core made of nickel-brass that is visible on the rim of the coin.
Despite tough international competition, Japan's coin producer has won a steady stream of orders.
In 2007, the Japan Mint produced 70,000 silver $1 coins for New Zealand and in 2013 created 10,000 silver coins for Cambodia to commemorate 60 years of friendship.
Its largest overseas order to date, however, was for 500 million stainless steel 2 taka coins for Bangladesh.
"We believe that other countries are choosing our coins because they have confidence in our technology and because of the price," said Izumi.


Making a mint abroad: Japan Mint turns to overseas markets

A Japan Mint worker creates a Cambodian coin. Photo: Japan Mint

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Asia

The era of electronic money has prompted the Japan Mint to search for overseas markets in which to show off its design and technical skills


The advent of electronic money and payments via the internet, on top of the widespread use of credit cards in Japan, means that the public is using far fewer coins and banknotes than in the past.


Making a mint abroad: Japan Mint turns to overseas markets

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The era of electronic money has prompted the Japan Mint to search for overseas markets in which to show off its design and technical skills

The era of electronic money has prompted the Japan Mint to search for overseas markets in which to show off its design and technical skills