I was in Japan last year. I found it quite hard to find the new 500 yen coin in circulation. It's seen as a nuisance as it's not readily accepted by vending machines despite in circulation for 3 years. (issued since 2021). Reiwa issued coins (except 100 and 500 yen) are surprisingly difficult to find despite being in a capital city. I have managed to gather all 3 years of 500 yen... (500 yen makes it very expensive to do a complete year set!) I'll try to take a photo of the 500 yen coins when I get a chance. Thought I'd share a video of the production of the coin. This is not my video - one that I found online
Interesting video. I took a tour of the Winnipeg Mint years ago. We couldn't go on the production floor but it looked similar to the video. Were you able to find any 100 and 500 Yen coins from the Showa and Heisi eras? Love visiting a foreign country and finding coins. Was on a Greek Isles cruise in Sept 2022 found 29 different euro coins from eight different countries.
Most of the 100 yen coins that I found are from the Showa and Heisei era. Reiwa is surprisingly difficult for all denominations. 500 yen on the other hand is different. The older 500 yen (silver color nickel copper) no longer circulate. Interestingly, they look to be heavily circulated so finding a nice 500 yen from circulation can be a challenge.
Do any of the commemorative 500 yens circulate. A trip to Japan may be in my future so I'm curious about it.
I've got no luck. I've asked a few people about this. Even if they did circulate, they literally get hoarded even though they are only worth face value. This also includes the recent Tokyo Olympics coins. Japan Mint did themselves a big disservice as the commemorative coins just don't work in vending machines - go figure that out...
From my understanding, Japanese commems are issued by banks at face value, but almost never truly circulate. Your odds of getting one in change are extremely low.
