2016-05-09 Mon

The Japan Mint’s 1,000-yen silver coin series will now have a special addition. The new coin will honour the 47 Prefectures of Japan in a unique and colourful way.

The obverse features world-famous bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi, born in Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture on November 9, 1876. Noguchi worked towards finding remedies for yellow fever, syphilis, polio etc. His controversial work involved human experimentation on orphans. He died of Yellow Fever in 1928 in Ghana. The effigy design used on the coin is based on his well-known photograph. Mt. Bandai is depicted in the background. The fourth largest lake in Japan, Lake Inawashiro is depicted between the mountain and the doctor. Other inscriptions include Japan and the prefecture FUKUSHIMA in English and Japanese.

On the common reverse, advanced mint technology is used to make the numbers “47” (for the 47 Prefectures) and “60” (representing the 60th Anniversary of Enforcement of the Local Autonomy Law) appear alternately when viewed from different angles. A Japanese inscription denotes that the coin was issued in the 28th year of the Heisei era. The denomination 1000 Yen is depicted in English and Japanese.