HISTOR¥

From 9 December 2006, the Currency Museum of the Bank of Japan will hold an exhibition on the image of Daikoku-sama on the first notes it ever issued (1885, 3 years after the establishment of the BOJ). From its site:

日本銀行の開業から3年後の1885（明治18）年、最初の日本銀行券が発行されました。最初の日本銀行券は、七福神の一つである"大黒様"が描かれていたため、「大黒札」と呼ばれました。 　大黒は、えびすと並び七福神を代表する福徳の神として幅広い信仰を集め、江戸時代のお金の図柄にも多く登場し、お金と深い縁がありました。

From Bloomberg:

The yen rose for a third day on speculation the Bank of Japan is preparing to lift interest rates after holding borrowing costs near zero for the past five years. The Japanese currency yesterday reached an eight-month high after Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said policy makers may increase rates on signs of "sustained" growth. Expectations of a rise in the key lending rate helped push yields on Japanese government bonds toward the highest in almost seven years.

From this week's Nature-editorial:

Web　tools now allow data sharing and informal debate to take place　alongside published papers. But to take full advantage, scientists must embrace a culture of sharing and rethink their vision of databases.
Upload and share your raw data, and have a high impact factor for your blog —or perish? That day has not yet come, but web technologies, from personal publishing tools such as blogs to electronic laboratory notebooks, are pushing the character of the web from that of a large library towards providing a user-driven collaborative workspace.

A handy reference guide

According to Bank of Japan, the number of coins in Japan decreased first time in the history (the 0.05% decrease was observed at the end of July 2005.) Nikkei Shimbun discusses that this would be because of the increased use of digital cash and credit cards (i.e., coinless payment) at supermarkets and convenience stores.

(Thanks to Andreas Bovens)

Also added to the visual node is an album I want to reserve for so-called scripophilia (collections of securities and shares). At the moment it contains only one item, but more is to follow very soon.

• From Early History until 1946
• Money after 1946 According to Difference in Value
• Pictographic History of Money after 1946

Introduction

In his Report on the Adoption of the Gold Standard in Japan, Matsukata refers to the state of Japan's monetary organization as being 'in a most disordered condition'. We are explained that, as a typical offspring of the feudal order, it had been characterized by a considerable degree of decentralization, by a resistance to change, and -partly due to its local nature- particularly prone to self-corruption:

The coinage system in vogue at the Time of the Restoration (1868) was based on the system that was first established in the 6th year of Keicho (1600 A.D.), and since that time, for more than two hundred and sixty years, no change had ever been introduced into the system. Yet owing to to growing financial distress, the Shogunate Government frequently resorted to recoinage as its invariable relief measure , which in every case, excepting the solitary case of Kioho time (1715 A.D.-1734 A.D.) brought out coins of lighter weight and poorer quality. The coinage system was thus, though nominally kept intact, practically destroyed in the end through successive debasement. Besides, some of the Daimios (feudal princes) often took the liberty of secretly coining money, while the practice of issuing paper money for circulationwithin their separate jurisdiction had become nigh universal.' (source: Matsukata Masayoshi, Report on the Adoption of the Gold Standard in Japan (Tokyo, 1899; reprint by Elibron Classics), p. i-ii) (italics in the original)

The Bank of Japan prepared pages on the introduction of the new yen bills (¥10,000 - ¥5,000 - ¥1,000). Compare as well the 日本のお金 (nihon no okane) -page for a report of decisions, prepared pamphlets etc. leading to the introduction of the new bills on Nov. 1 2004.

The last issue of the 'Discussion Paper Series' of the bank of Japan's Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies contains a considerable contribution (64 pages in pdf-format) on the early monetary history of Japan. The article was prepared by Matsumura Keiji 松村恵司 of the Nara reseach Institute for Cultural Properties. It devotes special attention to the existence of 無文銀銭 mumonginsen or silver coins without inscription, prior to the appearance of 和同開珎 (wadōkaichin or wadōkaihō), believed to be one of the oldest coins of Japan (after the 開元通宝 kaigen tsūhō) -compare the explanations at the Bank of Japan History pages.