My "Apple on the table" (500 Yen Coins)

This is what an explosion of Japanese 500 yen coins looks like.

Although things seem to be changing recently, Japan is much more-so a cash-based society than California was. One of the more interesting things about Japan is that they have coins that are worth a surprising amount of money-- the 500 yen coin: The king of coins. They go about as far as a $5 dollar bill would get you in America, which really says something considering the biggest coins in regular use in California seem to be quarters (there are $1 coins that the blue line ticket machine in long beach seems to crap out on purpose, but they are more often than not mistaken for quarters-- the Susie B's, that is. The Sacagaweas are gold, but apparently not very blind-people friendly as their dimensions don't differ too much from the good 'ol quarters). Japanese have 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, 50 yen, 100 yen, and 500 yen coins. With that aside, the 500 yen coins are truly beasts among beasts in the world of coins. That means dropping one and seeing it roll into non-existance is quite a shocking experience. It also means that getting one is a bit of a special occasion, especially if you get the older silver kind!

My first encounter with the 500 yen coins was when I came to Japan in the summer of '07. It has been long enough to almnost forget the disbelief I had in what was basically a $5 coin. I remember having pockets full of coins during my travels and feeling very uncomfortable with the fact that it was topping $30 or so buckaroos. If you plan on going to Japan, I recommend getting a coin purse, man or woman, to help prevent coins, such as the 500 yen coin, from flying out of your pockets when you go to reach for a train ticket or something.

After moving to Japan, I had been spending quite a bit of money. I had decided some time after the first few months that maybe I could save some of my 500 yen coins to kind of justify some of my spending. The idea had come to me when noticing a section of 500 yen coin banks in the 100 yen shop. I bought one that went to 3000 00 yen, which was quite big as they normally go to 1000 00 yen. I started saving my 500 yen coins and it quickly became a passion. I was determined to never use 500 yen coins. I would try to make sure that my change when shopping would round to about 500 yen as to obtain more of them. My hobby, I guess you could call it, ended up expanding further. I started saving all of my coins... and I can tell you that 100 yen coins are the ones that add up without even trying. I have since become a little more lenient and have decided to use my 1 yens, 5 yens, and 10 yens to help me obtain more 50's, 100's, and 500's. I think that is a good policy and anyone who is looking to save money while in Japan should look into saving your coins. They may be small, but man do they add up.

My 500 yen coins especially started adding up. My "Apple on the table" bank had become quite hard to pick up with one hand. Before I knew it, I had to shove the coins in to get them to go in. Soon the big question arose: "To break the bank, or not to break the bank?" I had that feeling a couple of times in the past, but held back in fear of opening it and counting my coins only to be very dissapointe that I didn't quite pass the finish line of 3000 00 yen (roughly $3270 as of this writing).
It was a moral decision, really. At this point, I'd like to lie and say I couldn't make the decision... and then suddenly my red "Apple on the table" bank exploded like some kind of 500 yen coin volcanic eruption. Refer to the picture on the right for this fantasy in more in-depth detail. It wasn't something I could choose, it just happened.

I dumped it all out on my floor in my "washitsu" and took a bit of time to aw over the shiny metallic mess I had made. It was like the treasure of some sunken ship-- I'd be one to believe the weight of the coins could sink a ship, too. I feel a bit like Uncle Scrooge on Ducktales by saying this, but I've grown quite accustomed to the sound of 500 yen coins and really enjoyed the sound that the waterfall made that sparkled in the colors of Copper, Zinc, and Nickel that came out of the busted tin from which it all errupted. The harshness and rawness of the coins was quite a juxtaposition to the relatively flimsy and soft paper money or lifeless plastic money. I couldn't say as much for the 1 yen coins, though, as those seem as cheap as monopoly money when compared with american pennies. With that said, though, I'm inclined to believe they are actually worth their value wheras pennies are notorious for costing more than they're worth. The 500 yen coins are really something to behold, especially in this number!

I always get cases for my coins to make them easy to count. It was my first time getting cases for 500 yen coins seeing as how I'd always just empty my pockets right into my "Apple on the table" bank. They are a bit bulkier than the 100/10 yen cases, of which I have the most. It's interesting to note that each case of 500 yen coins can hold up to 250 00 yen. The 100 yen coins only go to 50 00 and the 10 yen ones go to a laughable... 500 yen. That's kind of why I stopped saving 10 yen coins. The cases cost 100 yen for 3, and spending 100 yen to store 15 00 yen seems like a waste to me. The 50 yen coins are border line with their 25 00 limit. Anyways, I went out and bought 12 cases--4 packs of 3 for my 500 yen coins. I was quite worried about not filling them all up, but slowly but surely things were looking good. I admit, I got quite nervios in the middle as I wasn't sure I'd fill'em all. When I got to my last 3 cases, it was quite exhilarating... when I got to the last case, it was obvious, I had done the impossible. The "Apple on the table" had done me good, real good. I ended up with one coin shy of an extra 400 00 yen.

I was very satisfied with the performance of the "Apple on the table" and am so satisfied that I will use the 1000 00 yen version for my next run, which I believe is called "Orange on the table". In truth, there are two versions, and next time my girlfriend and I are going to race each other. Seeing all my coins like this in containers reminds me of some kind of domesticated what-would-have-been wild beast. As I have said the name umpteen times, you have probably understood by now that I really loved my "Apple on the table" bank and while I somewhat regret the erruption that happened, there is something almost poetic about it-- in a weird kind of way there is beauty in the consumption of the bank after it has served its purpose.

It took about a year and a half to fill it up. By use of math and deductive reasoning, I'm going to put my next bank, which will be a third of the size, at just around a year. I'll tell you all about it.