Posted on 04/23/2026 6:49:15 AM PDT by chajin
The Finance Ministry said Tuesday it will issue commemorative ¥1,000 [US$6.25] coins marking the 100th anniversary of the 1926 start of the Showa Era.
The coins will be priced at ¥34,800 [US$218] apiece. The obverse design features a Shinkansen bullet train, Tokyo Tower and expressways in color, symbolizing postwar reconstruction and rapid economic growth. The reverse depicts Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms and doves.
A total of 40,000 coins will be issued. Japan Mint will accept applications for about three weeks starting Aug. 20.
This marks the first coin honoring a Japanese era since silver coins were issued in 2018 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the start of the Meiji Era.
Made of pure silver, the Showa coin has a diameter of 40 millimeters and weighs 31.1 grams. Amid rising silver prices, the coin is expected to be the highest-priced commemorative issue, alongside the coins for the Asian Games to be held in Aichi Prefecture this autumn.
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I think they should have Godzilla peeking over Mt Fuji.
It’s beautiful.
Good to see Japan asserting its identity. Its polite, orderly, and diligent culture does have attributes to be emulated.
Smartest thing we did we keeping the Emperor after the war. Probably saved Japan from going Communist.
That’s true.
Yep. MacArthur was no dummy.
I like Coins , I have 2 Trump coins ,LOL
And, Godzilla.
Celebrating 100 years from the start of the 62+ year reign of Showa.
That’s what I was thinking…
What should have happened is what usually happened when Japan suffered some tragic situation: the Emperor would abdicate, and his son, usually not grown, would take the throne, with the Joukou (retired Emperor) making decisions from behind the curtain.
Hirohito would have abdicated, with his son Akihito, who was 12, becoming the Emperor. That would have continued the Imperial system, with some sense of the wartime Emperor losing something as a result of the years of aggression and atrocities. There would have been in practicality, however, no change in how Japan revived from the war into a peaceful and prosperous nation and ally of ours.
(P.S. Akihito is still with us at 92 as a Joukou, and his son Narihito is the present Emperor. Naruhito's daughter, Princess Kako, is the Japanese equivalent of the Dutch princess Catharina-Amalia, or vice versa.)
Godzilla doesn’t peek at anything. His mighty withering gaze even without the heat ray dominates all it sees.
People don’t realize how important the Showa Era is to Japanese.
Japanese are cremated so they can reincarnate, per Buddhism.
In the same way, Japan went through the consequences of attacking America, getting brutally destroyed, but then rising from the ashes in the 50s-70s and then eventually an massive economic force until the last year of Showa, 1989, which was the year right before their economic crash and malaise of the Heisei Era.
They have a Showa day in Japan (a holiday), and the Showa emperer is the longest living emperor. They also are nostalgic for the old 60s-80s style of buildings, which some towns have purposefully preserved to give it that Showa vibe.
Amen. All hail mighty Gojira!
"We" didn't do it. Mac did.
The Allies wanted rid of the Emperor, and that was the mindset going into Potsdam. Through back channels, the Japanese let the Allies know that they could not and would not under any circumstances yield on the matter of the sovereignty of the Emperor, meaning the original draft of the Potsdam Declaration was a non-starter.
Truman's exact words to Mac were, “You will exercise your authority as you deem proper ... your authority is supreme.”
The final paragraph of the surrender instrument reads, "The authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate these terms of surrender."
They kicked the can down the road and left EVERYTHING to MacArthur's discretion.
"We" didn't have squat to do with it. If Mac had wanted the Emperor strung up by his short and curlies, that's what would have happened. Mac's respect for the Japanese people and understanding of their culture was all that saved their bacon from what otherwise probably would have been a diasterous rebuilding.
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