In the United States, the currency is the dollar, symbolized with an $. The currency of Japan is the yen, the symbol is ¥. This symbol can be seen above at checkout stands in stores so they can be easily found. The last time I visited Japan, ¥100~$1 USD. It made it so easy to calculate, just moving the decimal place over twice. Now the yen isn't as strong as then. As of when I am writing this, $1~¥143.
I bought four things a while back at the 100 yen shop, Daiso. With tax one item is 110 yen, so ¥440 was the total. I paid with a single coin, ¥500, and my 12 year old son was soooo shocked that I could possibly pay for that many things with just one coin. In the US, coins are only used if something is under $1. Here, coins are used if something is under ¥1,000.
Cash is also used A LOT more here than the States. I used to keep cash on me in case of emergencies in the States, but the amounts kept getting smaller and smaller, as I almost never used cash as time went on. Here I always keep some yen on me, especially if I go out to eat. It isn't uncommon for a restaurant to not take credit card, whereas in the US, that is VERY rare.
Down below are the coins I have on hand. Starting on the left is ¥1. For some reason, neither Philip nor I had even a single ¥5 coin; it is golden colored and has hole in it. Next, the copper colored one is ¥10, then the silver one with a hole is ¥50, the slightly larger silver one is ¥100, and the largest coin that is slightly golden in color, which I paid with at Daiso, is ¥500.
The smallest bill is ¥1,000.
All the bills have holographic features.
Next is ¥5,000.
If anyone is interested, here's today's exchange rate from Google.
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