Bill Henderson brought up Japanese coins in the thread, "Is it all European?" I confess that I am not an active collector of Japanese (or Asian) numismata. However, I have some appreciation for the culture, having worked for two Japanese companies (Kawasaki and Honda). I wrote a couple of articles about Japanese coins and Japanese paper and also about Chinese coins. So, I have some general awareness. In the "Hammered" topic, the point was made that designs were borrowed among kingdoms. In numismatics we see these historic trends. The graceful "Young Hera" popular among many Greek cities of the 300s and 200s BCE were copied or adapted from the Arethusa motif of Syracuse. So, when looking at Japanese history, you see these parallels. Some of them are interesting because the Japanese experienced the same processes as other cultures. The fact that they were isolated underscores that inflation, counterfeiting, etc., arise spontaneously perhaps as a matter of "natural law." On the other hand, there were clear borrowings. Japanese bronze coins, the Kanei Tsuho, are direct from China. When Japan modernized in the late 1800s, their silver coins were on the international "crown" or 8-reales standard, about the same size and composition as large US, Mexican, and British coins of the time, within some arbitrary range for weight and fineness. Then, Japan went off its bimetallic standard and adopted the gold standard. This was clearly a matter of adjusting the internal economy to the wider world. With Japanese paper, you have these early receipts of the 1600s. At first, they were the wrappers of rolls of silver coins, but the paper soon acquired a reality of its own. That's about all I know at that level. Take it away, Bill!
