bribery

The last one. It's of the highest value. No Japanese coin (except for some commemorative coins) can beat it. Because of its high monetary value, there is a risk of forgery. Forging cheaper coins wouldn't make economic sense. The coin has several forgery prevention tricks. One of them is a technique called ''latent image''. Looking from some angle, you find other letters of 500円(yen) in the zeros of the 500 on the coin.

autopsy

I'm a big fan of the 100 yen coin. Behold this exquisite design and this blinding color! Besides its attractive appearance, I must admire its monetary value. I wouldn't be so amused if I find other lesser coins (like 10 yen coins) on the street. However, I'd be absolutely on cloud nine when I stumble across a 100-yen coin.

Value: 100 yen = a little bit less than 1 dollar.
Material: copper 75%, nickel 25%.
Weight: 4.8 g.
Size: 22.6mm (d), 1.7mm (t).

x cingular

Hi, the 10 yen coin! Finally, it's your turn.

I think the 10 coins pretty low key in appearance. I don't like them very much. Here's the profile of the bronze coin.


Value:10 yen = approximately 5 cents + 5 cents.
Material: copper 95%, zinc 3-4%, tin 1-2%.
Weight: 4.5 g.
Size: 23.5 mm (d), 1.5 mm (t).

Trivia:

• The 10 yen coins minted in 1951 contain minute amounts of gold.
• The coins can kill mosquito larvae if you put them in the water.

That's all from today's topic. Join me next time.

elf

It's the 50 yen coin. I don't have much to tell about it. Let's see the facts about the coin.

Value: 50 yen = nearly half a dollar.
Material: copper 75 %, nickle 25%.
Weight: 4.00 g.
Size: 21mm (d), 1.7mm (t).

Trivia:

• The 50 yen coins minted in 1987 are extremely rare. You should add it to your jewelry collection if you find one in your wallet.
• The coins minted from 2000 to 2002 are rare.

Ah, now I noticed that I had skipped the 10 yen coin. It should have been here, instead of the 50 coin.

motorola. inc.

The five-yen coin is today's coin. For Western people, the coin may be the trickiest of all Japanese coins since this is the only one with no Arabic number on it. Instead of Arabic 5, the Japanese character meaning 5, "五", is used.

Value: 5 yen = 5 cents or so.
Material: copper 60-70%, zinc 30-40%.
Weight: 3.75 g.
Size: 22mm (diameter), 1.5 mm (thickness).

Trivia:
The five-yen coins minted in 1958 are rare. Could be worth more than 5 yen.

it's just a coincidence.

I know you're keenly interested in money. Coincidentally, so am I. Through the next several posts, I will write about Japanese coins. Today's coin is the one-yen coin, the coin with the least value.

Value: 1 yen = 0.008299 US dollar (as of today)
Material: aluminum 100%
Weight: 1.0 gram
Size: 20 millimeters in diameter, 1.2 millimeters thick.

Trivia:

• Most minted coin.
• The cost to mint a one-yen coin is more than 1 yen. So the more one-yen coins are minted, the more deficit the government gets.
• The one-yen coins minted in 2001 are rare. Hence, coin-collectors may buy them at more than 1 yen per coin.

Good bye.

endoplasmic reticulum

I went skiing for the first time this season. The ski place I visited has a piste for cross country skiers. The snow condition was much better than I thought it would be. I was the only classcial xc skier at the ski resort today.

cocoon

Today, an earthquake occurred around north-east of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Fortunately, only a very minor tsunami hit the northern-east coast of Hokkaido. No damege reported.

Japan is geologically so active that many earthquakes have hit Japan. It won't surprise you that the people have developed lots of insightful superstitions about quakes. The most famous one would be that catfish can predict quakes. According to the story, they show unusual movements as a sign of quakes. Scientists suspect that it is not a groundless story. Compared to other freshwater fish, catfish are found to be much more sensitive to electromagnetic waves. Some abnormalities in electromagnetic waves are often detected before quakes actually happen. The unusual waves would affect catfish's behaviors.

I emailed to an aquarium to ask how their catfish had been doing before this equake happened. They answered they were just as usual.

Tell me

how to manufacture mirrors. A mirror consists of a sheet of glass plate and some metal. Some kind of metal quite evenly and thinly covers one side of the plate. I have no idea how we can coat a plate with metal so neatly. The price of mirrors is fairly cheap. So I'm guessing there is a mass-production method which is technically doable.

VD

It's snowing today. Also very windy. In the photo, you can see red flowers covered with snow. Its English name is Japonica. Despite the name, it might be less famous as a plant from Japan, compared with Japanese cherry blossoms (sakura).

You might wonder who helps the winter bloom plants pollinate. Insects must have died out before the winter or be hibernating in the ground. Birds do it for Japonica. Since few plants bloom in winter, Japonica can exclusively attract pollinators. On the other hand, except for Japonica's nectar, birds don't have much to feed on during the winter. They seem to adopt a no-loser strategy.

speedo

When I was little, my elder brother asked my mother where he could buy luminescent ink. She, all of a sudden, got into a bad mood. I don't think both of them remember this incident. That's all for today!

dandruff

We can tolerate cold weather well if we get bundled up. However, hot weather is often intolerable even if we get naked.

I found this empirical rule. I phrased it in the form of maxim.

marlboro

The year of 2007 has begun. You might be aware that a year has 365 days. I'm wondering why that number? Who decided it? It's a subtle but good question, isn't it?

To answer the question, the Japanese visit shrines on New Year's day for their year's first pray. I suspect that many of the Japanese pay no attention to the religious significance of the new year's shrine trip. However, they still visit because it is a part of their new year celebration routines. Yes. That must be the answer.