A small word about small change...

Since Jenn left today and I have lost access to our Slingbox to watch US TV (technical, network issues back home), I'm trying to catch up on some stuff that I've been meaning to post...

I never carried change back home. I would come home at the end of the day and drop my change in a large, glass jar in our office. It went in and never came out. I cashed in several hundered dollars in coins before we left.

Things are slightly worse here in Japan... they have larger denomination coins here, so you get more of them. The smallest bill is 1000 Yen (a good rule of thumb conversion is that 100 Yen = $1). The coins of Japan...


From Left to Right:

• 500 Yen - The most coveted of Yen coins. I refer to it as an umbrella coin (all the convenience stores carry umbrellas for 500 Yen if you get caught in the rain) or the Starbuck's coin (it will get you a grande pretty much anything at Starbuck's).
• 100 Yen - Still pretty functional. Very useful for vending machines, which are everywhere. A bottle of water will cost you 100-140 yen.
• 50 Yen - Kind of cool with the hole in it. Useful, worth carrying. I will pick a few of these up when I walk out each morning.
• 10 Yen - Discussed further below. Not worth carrying, as is everything from here down.
• 5 Yen - Practically worthless. Vending machines won't take them. Easy to confuse with 50 Yen coins.
• 1 Yen - Much like the US penny. You feel cheated when you get them back. Made of some space age material that feels like di-cast metal. It feels like it should float.

The 10 Yen coin has become the bane of my coinage existence. It seems like everyday I come home with a handful of these things. But you have to carry a bunch of them to buy anything, so they are not worth the work they require to haul them around.

Fortunately, the Japanese have provided a solution to this problem:

Yes, a beer vending machine.

As you look at the first picture, our apartment would be 90 degrees to the right around the corner. So door to coin drop, this is about 60 seconds away. Next to it is a cigarette vending machine. It's interesting that for cigarettes you need a special card to prove that you're 18, but you can just walk up and get beer.

Note the very ample selection - a variety of premium and lite beers, 12 oz. cans and tall boys. And it is actually cheaper than the convenience store down the street from it (the Family Mart).

So how does this solve my 10 Yen coin problem? Well I periodically gather up a bag of 10 Yen coins, grab a grocery bag and head over there and stock up. As was the case on this evening (Kirin Zero is my personal favorite):

The alternate title for this post was "The greatest vending machine in the world..."