Yen

Yen is the currency used in Japan, pronounced 'en'. (ISO 4217): JPY, 392; Latinised: ¥; locally as (円).

It was introduced by the Meiji government (Meiji 4) as a system resembling those of Europe to replace the overly complex system of the Edo Period[?]. The New Currency Act of 1871 stipulated the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen (1, 圓), sen (1/100, 錢), and rin (1/1000, 厘) with the coins being round and cast as in the West. The Act also moved Japan onto the Gold Standard. The yen was pegged at 1 US dollar = 360 yen from April 25, 1949 to 1971. In 1990, the yen was at 160 yen/dollar and in 1995 80 yen/dollar.

The yen was originally written as the same way as the Chinese Yuan (圓 pinyin yuan2), modern writings use a different character (円) instead.

The sen and the rin were taken out of circulation in 1954.

There are at present (late June 2003) about 118 yen to the U.S. Dollar.

External link

• The history of Japanese currency (http://www.imes.boj.or.jp/cm/english_htmls/history.htm)