The core idea: amount, en, then dama or satsu
You do not need ten words for Japan's ten pieces of money. Say the amount, add en, then add dama for a coin or satsu for a note. Dama is tama, ball, voiced after en, so en-dama is literally yen ball. Satsu is a reading of 札, a paper slip, the same kanji as in nefuda, a price tag.
The formula has one partner, the counter mai, used for flat things such as paper, tickets and plates. Notes are flat and, to Japanese eyes, so are coins, so both take mai. Reading prices aloud and the kanji on price tags have their own guides; this one is about the money in your hand. Two friends are pooling change for a coin locker.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 百円玉、何枚ある？ | Hyaku-en dama, nan-mai aru? | How many 100-yen coins have you got? |
| 三枚しかない。 | San-mai shika nai. | Only three. |
| 十円玉なら五枚あるよ。 | Jū-en dama nara go-mai aru yo. | I've got five 10-yen coins, if that helps. |
| 千円札が二枚と、五千円札が一枚。 | Sen-en satsu ga ni-mai to, gosen-en satsu ga ichi-mai. | Two 1,000-yen notes and one 5,000-yen note. |
Coins: six sizes, two holes
Coins rise in value but not in size, and that surprises everyone. The 50-yen is smaller than the 5-yen, and the 100-yen smaller than the 10-yen. The Japan Mint explains that sizes were fixed over decades so that each coin could be told apart from the ones it was most likely to be confused with. The holes do the same job: they make the 5 and 50 easy to feel, deter forgery and save metal.
Colour helps as much as size. The 1-yen is pale aluminium, the 5-yen yellow brass, the 10-yen reddish bronze, the 50 and 100 silver-white, and the 500 has been two-tone since 2021, though the older single-colour 500-yen coins are still valid. The 5-yen is the only coin with no Arabic numeral, just kanji, and because go-en sounds like goen, a bond or connection, it is the favourite offering at shrines. Around machines and shrines, coins get talked about like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| この自販機、五百円玉使える？ | Kono jihanki, gohyaku-en dama tsukaeru? | Does this vending machine take 500-yen coins? |
| 百円玉が戻ってきちゃった。 | Hyaku-en dama ga modotte kichatta. | The 100-yen coin came straight back out. |
| お賽銭は五円玉にしよう。 | Osaisen wa go-en dama ni shiyō. | Let's make our shrine offering a 5-yen coin. |
| Coin | Reading | How to recognise it |
|---|---|---|
| 一円玉 | ichi-en dama | Pale aluminium, very light at 1 gram, smooth edge |
| 五円玉 | go-en dama | Yellow brass, hole, kanji only, smooth edge |
| 十円玉 | jū-en dama | Reddish bronze, smooth edge |
| 五十円玉 | gojū-en dama | Silver-white, hole, ridged edge |
| 百円玉 | hyaku-en dama | Silver-white, cherry blossoms, ridged edge |
| 五百円玉 | gohyaku-en dama | Largest; two-tone since 2021, slanted ridges |
Notes: four lengths and the 2024 designs
All four notes are 76 mm tall and grow longer with value, from 150 mm for 1,000 yen to 160 mm for 10,000. On 3 July 2024 the Bank of Japan began issuing new 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000-yen notes, the first redesign in 20 years. The faces are the bacteriologist Kitasato Shibasaburō on the 1,000, the educator Tsuda Umeko on the 5,000 and the industrialist Shibusawa Eiichi on the 10,000.
The older notes, with Noguchi Hideyo, Higuchi Ichiyō and Fukuzawa Yukichi, remain legal tender. The 2,000-yen note, showing the Shureimon gate in Okinawa, dates from 2000 and was not redesigned; it is valid everywhere but rare outside Okinawa. The 10,000-yen note prints its amount as ichiman-en (壱万円), with one in its formal form, daiji, literally big characters, which are harder to alter.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 新しいお札、もう見た？ | Atarashii osatsu, mō mita? | Have you seen the new notes yet? |
| 古いお札も使えますか。 | Furui osatsu mo tsukaemasu ka. | Can I still use the old notes? |
| はい、どちらもお使いいただけます。 | Hai, dochira mo otsukai itadakemasu. | (Staff) Yes, you can use either. |
| この機械、二千円札は使えないみたい。 | Kono kikai, nisen-en satsu wa tsukaenai mitai. | This machine doesn't seem to take 2,000-yen notes. |
Everyday words and machine words
For money in general, Japanese has two layers: native words for talk and Sino-Japanese words for machines, banks and signs. On a ticket machine the note slot says shihei and the coin slot says kōka; at the till, people say osatsu and kozeni. At a machine and at home, the two layers look like this.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 紙幣は千円札のみご利用いただけます。 | Shihei wa sen-en satsu nomi goriyō itadakemasu. | (Sign) Only 1,000-yen notes can be used. |
| お釣りが出てこないんですが。 | Otsuri ga dete konai n desu ga. | (To staff) My change hasn't come out. |
| 小銭がたまっちゃった。 | Kozeni ga tamatchatta. | I've ended up with a pile of coins. |
| Word | Reading | Where you meet it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| お札 | osatsu | Speech | Notes, banknotes |
| 紙幣 | shihei | Machines, banks | Notes, literally paper currency |
| 小銭 | kozeni | Speech | Coins, literally small coins |
| 硬貨 | kōka | Machines, banks | Coins, literally hard currency |
| 細かいお金 | komakai okane | Speech | Small money: coins or small notes |
| お釣り | otsuri | Speech and signs | Change given back |
| 両替 | ryōgae | Speech and signs | Changing money into other units |
Two pairs cause trouble. Osatsu and ofuda are both written お札: osatsu is a banknote, ofuda a paper talisman from a shrine, and context decides. Kozeni and komakai no overlap but differ: kozeni is only coins, while komakai no, the small ones, can include 1,000-yen notes, as when a cashier facing your 10,000-yen note hopes you have something smaller.
Beyond the basics: breaking a note with kuzusu and ryōgae
Kuzusu means to break down, as a wall crumbles, and with money it means turning one large note into smaller ones. Ryōgae is the exchange itself, named after the ryō, an old unit of gold, so literally exchanging ryō. It covers both breaking notes and changing currencies, and a ryōgaeki is a change machine. The difference is viewpoint: you ask someone to kuzusu your note; a ryōgae service does it.
Where you ask matters more than the words. Shops are not obliged to break notes, and many display ryōgae wa okotowari shite imasu, we do not give change. Banks exchange money but often charge, and some charge to deposit piles of coins; Japan Post Bank, for example, charges once you bring more than 100 coins to the counter. Change machines at arcades and coin laundries serve their customers. The easiest route is to buy something small.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| すみません、一万円札を崩してもらえませんか。 | Sumimasen, ichiman-en satsu o kuzushite moraemasen ka. | Excuse me, could you break a 10,000-yen note for me? |
| 申し訳ございません、両替はお断りしております。 | Mōshiwake gozaimasen, ryōgae wa okotowari shite orimasu. | (Staff) I'm very sorry, we don't give change for notes. |
| 千円札に崩したいんですが。 | Sen-en satsu ni kuzushitai n desu ga. | I'd like to break it into 1,000-yen notes. |
| 両替機はどこにありますか。 | Ryōgaeki wa doko ni arimasu ka. | Where is the change machine? |
| 千円崩してくれる？ | Sen-en kuzushite kureru? | (To a friend) Can you break a thousand for me? |
At the register: how cashiers count your change back
Cashiers narrate each step with fixed phrases. They announce what you handed over with kara oazukari shimasu, literally I take charge of it from; grammarians grumble about the kara, but you will hear it everywhere. Notes come back first, with saki ni ōkii hō, the big ones first, counted in front of you, then coins and the receipt. Customers say little.
Coins have a legal limit that surprises visitors emptying their pockets before a flight: under the currency law, nobody has to accept more than 20 of any one coin in a single payment. A handful of 1-yen coins is fine; a bag of them is not. A customer pays for a 580-yen coffee with a 10,000-yen note.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一万円からお預かりします。 | Ichiman-en kara oazukari shimasu. | (Staff) Out of 10,000 yen. |
| 先に大きいほう、九千円のお返しです。 | Saki ni ōkii hō, kyūsen-en no okaeshi desu. | (Staff) The notes first: 9,000 yen back. |
| 残り、四百二十円のお返しです。 | Nokori, yonhyaku nijū-en no okaeshi desu. | (Staff) And the remaining 420 yen. |
| 細かいのがなくて、すみません。 | Komakai no ga nakute, sumimasen. | Sorry, I don't have anything smaller. |
| ちょうどあります。 | Chōdo arimasu. | I have the exact amount. |
| 一円玉、使ってもいいですか。 | Ichi-en dama, tsukatte mo ii desu ka. | Is it all right if I use 1-yen coins? |
Common mistakes with coins, notes and counters
Saying hyaku-en tama. Tama is the dictionary word for ball, so learners use it unchanged. After en it voices to dama, a sound change called rendaku: hyaku-en dama, gohyaku-en dama.
Counting money with ko or tsu. A coin looks like a small round object, which is what ko counts, and you will hear ko for coins in casual talk. Mai is the standard counter for both coins and notes: jū-en dama go-mai.
Saying issen-en satsu. Learners attach ichi to every round number, but 1,000 is simply sen: sen-en satsu. Ten thousand keeps its one: ichiman-en satsu.
Believing the old notes have expired. News of the 2024 designs made some people think the old ones would stop working, and fraudsters exploit that. Old and new are both legal tender; anyone urging you to exchange them is running a scam.
Asking a shop to change money as a matter of course. At home a shop might oblige, so it feels like a small favour, but many Japanese shops decline. Use a bank or a change machine, or buy something small.