# Japanese Yen **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2003, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196 "2003-07-09T10:07:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/1 "2003-07-09T10:07:41Z")
Is there any sub-division of Japanese Yen - such as “Yen Cents” or the like ??? Please advise - and give URLs if possible… Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/2 "2003-07-09T10:34:07Z")
The Sen is essentially an archaic division of the yen - 100 Sen = 1 Yen. It isn’ t used now, except in money markets and AKAIK no Sen coins are currently in circulation. The smallest coin in common current usage is the 1 Yen, worth approxiamtely .87 cents. [http://www.japan-zone.com/new/money.shtml](http://www.japan-zone.com/new/money.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/3 "2003-07-09T10:35:27Z")
[1 Yen = 100 Sen.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=currency) In case anyone’s wondering why you so often see “Japanese Yen” when only Japan uses the Yen, that’s because only Japan pronounces it Yen. It’s the same character for the Korean Won and, IIRC, the Chinese Yuan. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/4 "2003-07-09T10:35:46Z")
Thank you very much. Regards, ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/5 "2003-07-09T10:41:26Z")
1 yen = 100 sen 1 sen = 10 ri Both the _sen_ and _ri_ are still used when describing exchange rates and prices of non-discrete items (electricity, natural gas, etc). ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/6 "2003-07-09T11:50:48Z")
> [@](#): > > In case anyone’s wondering why you so often see “Japanese Yen” when only Japan uses the Yen, that’s because only Japan pronounces it Yen. It’s the same character for the Korean Won and, IIRC, the Chinese Yuan. Funny thing is that japanese prnouce it more like “em”, not “yen”. Go fig. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/7 "2003-07-09T12:40:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monty \* > \*\*[1 Yen = 100 Sen.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=currency) > > In case anyone’s wondering why you so often see “Japanese Yen” when only Japan uses the Yen, that’s because only Japan pronounces it Yen. It’s the same character for the Korean Won and, IIRC, the Chinese Yuan. \*\* It _used_ to be the same character. At 13 strokes, however, it was simplified by both China and Japan, but unlike some other characters the simplified forms are radically different. Which means that there are three characters: the Chinese _yuan_, the Japanese _en_, and the original form. To complicate things a bit further, the Chinese simplifed their currency character by replacing it with a simpler homophonous character that meant “origin”. This leads to some confusion as the two remain separate in Japan and are read differently. The result being that while in China, the yen is refered to as _Riben yuan_ (Japanese yuan), the Chinese yuan is called _gen_ in Japanese, following the pronounciation of the “origin” character. As for **smiling bandit** question, the sci.lang.japan covers this well: > [@](#): > > In Japanese the currency is known as ‘en’ (which roughly means ‘circle’ or ‘round’) not ‘yen’. In fact the Japanese language has no way of writing ‘yen’ (see 5.1.2. Is there a kana symbol for ye or yi?). > In the old (pre-war) writing system ‘en’ was written in kanas as ‘wen’, not ‘yen’. Writing it as ‘yen’ in English originated in Hepburn’s dictionary of 1867, in which all words starting ‘e’ or ‘we’ were represented with an English ‘ye’. Another well-known example is writing ‘Yedo’ for ‘Edo’ (the old name for Tokyo). ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/japanese-yen/187196/8 "2003-07-09T12:41:21Z")
Aaargh! I meant to type: the [sci.lang.japan **FAQ**](http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/afaq/afaq-full.html#yen) covers this well.