Will Japan ever release a 1000 yen circulation coin in the 21st century? They had a 1000 yen coin in circulation in 1964.
Very unlikely considering that the 1000 Yen note is currently the smallest denomination banknote circulating in Japan. However, the Japanese mint issues 1000 Yen commemorative coins strictly for collectors commemorating, for example, Japan's prefectures or sporting events such as the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. https://www.mof.go.jp/english/currency/coin/commemorative_coins/20181207reference.pdf
Why? There are already genuine concerns of counterfeit 500 yen coins. 1000 yen coins would be an open paradise to for counterfeiters. Unless there are major updates to deter counterfeiters, no countries would be bold enough to have such high face value coin for circulation
Hey, gx: Is the current counterfeiting in 500-Yen coins mostly a problem that involves vending machines? Yes, a 1,000-Yen circulation coin would definitely pique the interest of counterfeiters. The security features would have to be both quickly obvious to people operating registers at businesses and hard to fake. I think you can buy yourself a small meal in Japan with 1,000-Yen.
I haven't heard of counterfeiting of 500 yen coins here in Japan for maybe 5 years. It may be that the newer vending machines do an optical scan, a opposed to just shape, weight and magnetism as previously. Those counterfeited coins were all coming from China. And you can buy a small meal for 400 yen here!
Erm the story goes a lot further back than the Chinese counterfeits. The size of the Korean 500 won and Japanese 500 yen is somewhat the same except the Korean coins were slightly heavier. It soon became an issue when some crooks figured out that all one needed to do is to shave a bit of weight off. Using those defiled coins, they could just dump them into vending machines and even without purchasing anything in drink machines, they could eject the change out. Now 500 won is about 50 yen so it's about 10% of face value. Good profit. New release was issued in 2000 but it still continues to attract counterfeiters. This still affects vending machines where some vendors couldn't be bother to upgrade their machines. The real issue is that it is not the machines that cannot tell the difference. It is the general public that can't do so well especially if you factor in that Japan has a large grey population which only continues to go on upward trend. Because it is a norm culture to accept cash at face value and NOT doubt if it is counterfeit or not - this is just the tip of an iceberg. There are reports of counterfeit 10,000 yen notes even with the hologram.
I've posted this before, but it's a page that simplistically describes the security measures taken to lessen the possibility of fooling the vending machines...in theory they should be checking conductivity and the alloy of the new version of the 500 yen is unusual. http://www.starcityhomer.com/500-yen.html It does depend on an upgraded vending machine. Now, in Japan, the vending machines are huge, and not limited to snacks and a few soft drinks. Hot/cold beverages of all sorts, rice, beer, condoms, underwear....and much more. Which is why a way to cheat them would be a bigger deal than in the US.
I haven't heard of recent problems with vending machines here in Japan. There's not so many really old ones around these days, and any that have had problems with counterfeit 500 yen coins would have been upgraded. I don't think it would be worthwhile counterfeiters searching for the odd machine that is not upgraded.
Older vending machines do exist not just in big cities. It is just the logistics of going to the country side and empty them is just not worthwhile. The real problem is that counterfeits are becoming too good that it is not the machine that is facing the issue but the general public. A while back I found a counterfeit 00 yen coin. Security on a standard 100 yen coin is just non existent other than reeded edge.
Really?? I'm surprised anybody would go to the trouble to create 100 yen dies, planchets, with the right alloys to fool vending machines, the weight of that many coins, and the means to distribute enough coins easily to make it profitable. It will be harder to counterfeit the new bi-metalic 500yen: The new 2019 Heisei 31, 30th anniversary of enthronement is already out: A circulation coin, but you never see it, except for 800-1000 yen in coin shops. The Reiwa 1 500yen coin will be out in October.
I reckon counterfeiting 100 yen is still profitable. I have to find that coin. I collect various world circulating coins that have been counterfeited. I have a Chinese 1 yuan coin which is worth a face value of mere 12 cents. This happens in a country where death penalty exists. The way I see it - anything worth more than 1 dollar is profitable. 1000 yen coin is asking for attention.
Well, 12 cents (1 Yuan) has more buying power in China than it does in Japan (13yen). You can't buy anything for 13 yen in Japan In order to make it profitable, you need to get the fake 100yen coins from China to Japan.
He didn't make a quality product that would fool a bank teller in 1954(or a vending machine in 2019), and he got caught because of it.... He spent $7000 on a machine that made $15,000 worth of low quality fake coins. To produce sophisticated 100yen coins in this day and age doesn't seem profitable to me.
Please tell me how sophisticated a 100 yen coin is. 75% copper, 25% nickel alloy and a reeded edge. Not very. Profit can be made out of 1 yuan coin. 100 yen? Why not. There is a good reason why the UK had to get rid of their pound coin and had them demonetized. Malaysia 1 ringgit is another example that comes to mind.
You need to make sure the 100yen work in vending machines, make them and transport them in from China, and make a profit. 500yen, yes. 100yen no. Australia has no problems with $1 and $2 coin counterfeiting, because it's just not worth the trouble doing it.
Well, they replaced the old £1 piece with a new one. And yes, the old one did get counterfeited a lot. So? Guess that, if here in the euro area we heard of €1 and €2 coins being counterfeited to a significant extent, they would be "upgraded" too. It's the old story of the legitimate producers trying to always be ahead of the illegitimate ones. Christian