- 5 yen coin
Infobox Coin
Country = Japan
Denomination = Five yen
Value = 5
Unit =Japanese yen
Mass = 3.75
Diameter = 22
Thickness = 1.5
Edge =
Composition = c. 65% Cu
c. 35% Zn
Years of Minting = 1959–present
Catalog Number = KM 72, 72a, 96.1 and 96.2
Obverse = GoEnDamaScan.jpg
Obverse Design = Rice ,water and gear
Obverse Designer = "Old script"
Obverse Design Date =
Reverse = 5JPY.jpg
Reverse Design = Tree sprouts
Reverse Designer = "new script"
Reverse Design Date =The nihongo|5 yen coin|五円硬貨|Go-en kōka is one denomination of
Japan eseyen . The current design was first minted in1959 using Japanese characters known as the "new script", and were also minted from 1949-1958 using "old-script" Japanese characters. Five-yen coins date to1870 (when, due to the much higher value of the yen, they were minted ingold ).The front of the coin depicts a
rice plant growing out of the water, with "five yen" written inkanji ; the back is stamped with "Japan" and the year of issue, also in kanji, separated by sprouts of a tree. The three graphic elements of the coin represent agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the key elements of the Japanese first-sector economy. Around a hole, there is agear that represent industry. It is the only Japanese coin in circulation to lackArabic numerals on either face.Cultural significance
The Japanese for "five yen," "go en" (五円) is a
homophone with "go-en" (ご縁), a word forkarma . As a result, five-yen coins are commonly given as donations atShinto shrine s, and superstitious Japanese often insert a single five-yen coin into a newwallet before inserting any other money.Use in nuclear accident investigation
Following the nuclear accident at
Tokai, Ibaraki in 1999,physicist sMasuchika Kohno andYoshinobu Koizumi showed how this coin could be used to estimateneutron dosage to the surrounding population, by measuring itszinc isotope ratios. They write:: The Japanese 5-yen
coin is about 22millimeter s indiameter and 1.5 mm thick, weighs 3.75gram s and has a central hole 5 mm wide. We chose this coin for monitoring neutron exposure because it is widely circulated, thezinc content is precisely controlled, and the 65}{ m Zn} generated has a convenienthalf-life (244.1 days) andgamma ray energy emission (1,115.5keV ). To obtain a record of the dosage of neutrons released as a result of the accident, we collected exposed coins from people's houses at distances 100–550 m from the facility. [cite journal | last = Kohno | first = Masuchika | coauthors = and Yoshinobu Koizumi | year = 2000 | title = Tokaimura accident: Neutron dose estimates from 5-yen coins | journal = Nature | volume = 406 | pages = 693 | doi = 10.1038/35021138 ]They concluded that the coin could offer information about the total neutron effect during the accident, and about shielding by modern Japanese houses, given that the coins were recovered from indoors.
References
External links
* [http://205.243.100.155/frames/5Yen3.jpgThe front sides of two five yen coins] .
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