Ticket machines rejecting 500 yen coins

Right: the new 500 yen coin.

Last year, the Japan Mint issued a new 500 yen coin. This is the third 500 yen coin in the Japanese history. The size and weight are almost equivalent to those of the second 500 yen coin, but the new coin features a bi-metallic three-layer structure to make counterfeiting even more difficult. The new coins have been in circulation since 1 November 2021.

More than a year has passed since the circulation began, but not all railway operators made their ticket machines compatible with the new coins. JR East's machines mostly accept the new ones, but others like Tokyu still have considerable number of machines that only accept the old ones. Not a few other machines such as vending machines selling bottled beverages reject the new coins either. This is frankly strange, as Japanese business owners usually adapt this kind of changes swiftly. Why is it so sluggish this time?

*Partly retouched in accordance with the 1895 Act on Control of Imitation of Currency and Securities.

The answer is quite simple: because it is not wise to take action now. The Ministry of Finance is going to introduce new banknotes (1000, 5000 and 10000 yen), and they are due to be in circulation from 2024. Therefore, not a few business owners considered that it would be better to deal with new notes and coins at the same time. The business sector recently received samples of new notes from the National Printing Bureau, and currently tests of new machines are carried out, as Nikkei reported.

Another reason is that Japanese people have gradually shifted to cashless payment. Japan has been infamous for being a cash society, but not a few people are familiar with other means of payment, not only credit/debit cards but also other contactless cards and QR code. Since not as many coins as we had seen before are necessary in these days, the replacement of the 500 yen coins has not been so quick.

Furthermore, there is no reason for the government to dispose of the old coins so urgently this time. When the second 500 yen coin was minted in 2000, the government had to replace the first 500 yen coin (minted in 1982-1999) as quickly as possible, since too many counterfeit coins were found in vending machines. The most common case was 500 South Korean Won coins, which were precisely the same size and made of the same material but worth 170 yen at that time. No such cases are reported today so far.

As not a few ticket machines are incompatible with the new 500 yen coins, Mizushima Rinkai Railway in Okayama Prefecture has been taking quite a unique approach. They resumed selling old-fashioned paper-based tickets by hand. This type of ticket has been uncommon since the 1990s due to introduction of automatic printing systems (not least ticket machines). The Railway reintroduced this old type of ticket, which is often called "soft ticket" in Japanese, as the company cannot afford replacing their ticket machines. However, not a few railway enthusiasts ask for one as a collectable, and probably contributing a little to the business.