March 13, 2014 – In 2014 Japan will issue again coin sets of its “47 Prefectures” series. This year’s issues will be dedicated to Ehime, Yamagata, Mie, Saitama, Ishikawa and Kagawa.
Each set comprises two coins with reverses common to all coins …
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… a 1,000 Yen Colour Silver Coin …
and a 500 Yen Bicolour-clad Coin. The obverses are specific of the single provinces.
Ehime
The Silver Coin of the 33rd province, Ehime, will be available around early June and features the Dogo Onsen Spa Main Building and Mikan Oranges. Dogo Onsen Spa is Japan’s oldest hot spring, which is said to have more than 3,000 years of history.
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The 500 Yen Coin will be available from around mid-July and shows on it’s obverse the Setouchi Shimanami Kaido Expressway and the Small Islands of Ehime.
Yamagata
The 34th prefecture in this series is Yamagata.
The 1000 Yen Silver coin shows the Mogamigawa River and Sakuranbo Cherries typical of this province and will be available from late June.
From mid-July the bicolour-clad coin will be available too. It’s obverse depicts the Goddess of Jomon, a clay figure from about 4,500 years ago.
Mie
Mie is the 35th prefecture to be honoured with a coin set.
The Silver Coin shows on its obverse the Isuzugawa River and Ujibashi Bridge of the Ise Jingu Shrine. It will be available from late July.
The obverse of the 500 Yent coin shows an ancient Pilgrimage Route from Ise to Kumano, the so-called Kumano Kodo Iseji, a Unesco World Cultural Heritage.
For more information on these and other coins of Japan Mint, please go to the Mint’s website.
Japan’s National Tourism Organization informs about the Dogo Onsen.
In this video is explained the right way to take an onsen in Japan.
And this is a great video of the ancient Pilgrimage route.