Jap coins are dated from the time of each emperors asention to the throne. So Meji year 1 is 1867, Taisho year 1 is 1912, Showa year 1 1925 (roughly). melt about $3.70.
Thank's Ripley! It's probably been posted before at some point, but I found a cool site for converting the dates: http://www.allcalendars.net/JapaneseYearConverter.php
Actually, Hirohito, the Showa Emperor, took the throne in his own right in 1926. Prior to that he had been the regent for his father, Yoshihito, the Taisho Emperor. My favorite site for learning to read Japanese dates is this Lion Coins website. BTW "Jap" is generally considered to be a pejorative term in the same class with the "N" word. After all, World War II has been over for 65 years!
