Will the US follow Japan's example and do away with $1 and $5 bills? Plus Cherry Blossoms and Coins

1northcoin

While the United States Mint has never officially depicted cherry blossoms or cherry trees on its coins, the Washington D.C. Quarter featuring Duke Ellington was promoted with a scene showing cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin in Potomac Park.

While various of the United States featured trees in the America the Beautiful Quarter Program, Washington D.C. missed the opportunity, depicting an historical site rather than the natural beauty of its cherry trees.

Nevada's America the Beautiful Quarter features a bristlecone pine located within its Great Basin National Park; Michigan's Chapel Rock is complimented by a white pine tree; and even the U.S. Virgin Islands has on its coin a young red mangrove tree.

The Canadian Mint has offered several of its colorized coins with cherry trees and their colorful blossoms.

Needless to say though, it is Japan that has most prominently included cherry blossoms on its principle coinage. Included here is the 100 Yen coin, the equivalent of our one dollar coins, with its featured cherry blossoms.

Unlike the United States where we have both one dollar coins and one dollar bills, Japan only issues coins today. It has been decades since 100 yen notes circulated in Japan. In fact the same is true for their equivalent of the five dollar bill, as only 500 Yen coins have been made since 1984 and the 500 Yen bills were withdrawn from circulation ten years later in 1994.

And this is what the 500 Yen note once looked like, excepting my added face from back in the late 60s on the left side of the bill:

In Washington D.C. and in Japan it is now the season to celebrate cherry blossoms as was brought home by this current photo just provided by a friend in Japan.

While non residents of Japan have been restricted from joining in and enjoying Sakura Season this and last spring, here are some photos I was able to take when Japan was still open to foreign visitors in 2019:

Blossoming cherry trees surround Tokyo Tower:

Sakura frames Himeji Castle:

Cherry trees in bloom line the moat approaching Kanazawa's Castle Gate:

Sakura in the Ise region of Japan:

ProfLiz

Thank you for a beautiful and thoughtful post, 1northcoin!

Happy sakura season to all!

DrDarryl

Washington DC

Daniel Carr design "state quarter"

ricko

I have been to D.C. during cherry blossom bloom.... very nice. Well worth seeing in person. Cheers, RickO

1northcoin

@DrDarryl said:
Washington DC

Daniel Carr design "state quarter"

Wow, IMHO that should have won out over the politically picked designs, assuming it was in the contention for selection as one of the Washington DC quarters - either initially or as part of the America Beautiful series.

Very impressive design there by Daniel Catt.

1northcoin

@ProfLiz said:
Thank you for a beautiful and thoughtful post, 1northcoin!

Happy sakura season to all!

Appreciated.

1northcoin

This positing by @Higashiyama on a related thread is responsive:

@1northcoin said: "In effect that is what Japan did with the 500 yen note which would be most equivalent to our $5 bill. Now when I travel in Japan my pockets are weighed down with heavy coins and it is a real nuisance"

I agree that the 500 yen note is a beautiful work of art and think the cherry blossoms you've posted are great!

But, my experience with the 500 yen coin is just the opposite. It is very similar in size to the SBA and packs almost five times as much value. If I go for a long stroll in Tokyo on a Saturday with 3 - 4 coins in my pocket, I'm covered for miscellaneous expenses for the day (including lunch), and don't even notice the coins.

In terms of transaction value conducted, the 500 yen coin must be by far the world's most successful modern coin.

ffcoins

Just a heads up @1northcoin the 1984 coin you have is a Korean 500 won, not the Japanese 500 yen. Old trick in Japan to switch them out, especially in vending machines, as they are the same size and weight but the won is only worth about 1/10 the value of the yen. The redesign of the 500 yen coin with security features (not sure of the date... early 2000s?) supposedly negated that issue.

1northcoin

@ffcoins said:
Just a heads up @1northcoin the 1984 coin you have is a Korean 500 won, not the Japanese 500 yen. Old trick in Japan to switch them out, especially in vending machines, as they are the same size and weight but the won is only worth about 1/10 the value of the yen. The redesign of the 500 yen coin with security features (not sure of the date... early 2000s?) supposedly negated that issue.

Interesting. Although I have been in Korea several times in the past few years I never needed to use the currency exchange and just made purchases by credit card. That leads to the conclusion that as you suggest I got it in pocket change in Japan or possibly even Mainland China. (When I located that particular coin I thought it odd that the wording around the edges did not appear to be recognizable kanji.)

1northcoin

FWIW, here are images from the design of both the obverse and reverse of the 500 Yen note which, as noted above, has not been circulated as currency in Japan since 1994.

Note the inclusion of Sakura in its design as well as on the 100 Yen Coin as previously referenced.

1northcoin

And for good measure here is a photo I took of Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to complement the 500 Yen note's above pictured reverse.

1northcoin

Any thoughts on whether the United States will eventually follow Japan in abolishing our own one dollar and five dollar bills?

1Mike1

Not as long as the dollar remains the world's reserve currency.

thisistheshow

A cashless society is one of "their" goals, so it wouldn't surprise me.

oih82w8

It's too political to quit producing the $1 with the provider of the linen material that is used on the $1 bill, which accounts for approx. 45% of currency production according to https://www.moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/1note.html . I would image it would be the same for the $5 bill. The $2 bill is an apparent novelty, although I believe still in limited production.

Justacommeman

Pre pandemic I tried to put myself in Japan in March/ April and October. I love Japan. And yes when the sakura's are in bloom it's breathtaking. Cherry blossoms rock

m

coinbuf

@1northcoin said:
Any thoughts on whether the United States will eventually follow Japan in abolishing our own one dollar and five dollar bills?

Doubtful in the near future and I am not in favor of doing so, I do not like to jingle as I walk.

SaorAlba

I love the cherry blossoms for their beauty, but I have a severe allergy to them. We had lots of cherry trees on the base at NATS Pax River when I lived there, they had come back with Navy personnel in the late '40s or early '50s. It was allergy central for me.

1northcoin

Some added Cherry Blossom views captured at Himeji Castle before the travel restrictions were put in place.

For those with an interest in cinema, this was the location of the Ninja school featured in the James Bond movie filmed in 1967 "You Only Live Twice."

(Additional filming had been planned at the location but some mistaken reporting had suggested that the Ninja Stars being thrown at an interior castle wall were damaging the historic structure and the shooting moved elsewhere to avoid controversy. The producers, in response to the news story, claimed they had erected fake walls for the subject scene.)

blitzdude

We can't even figure how to get rid of the penny even when it's costing twice it's value to produce them. I'm afraid doing away with $1s and $5s is a long ways off.

P.S. Nice cherry blossoms. RGDS!

olympicsos

$1 bills are lasting longer than before. There isn't really any impetus to remove them from circulation if people prefer paper and they're lasting longer due to cash being used less frequently. In fact I think the fact that we have American Innovation Dollars is wasteful.

1northcoin

Interesting perspectives. Thanks all for responding.