Jul 12 (NHK) - Japan's national mint has begun making the first coins featuring the new era name Reiwa.
A ceremony was held on Thursday to mark the start of the production at the Japan Mint headquarters in Osaka City, with Finance Minister Taro Aso and senior officials of the Imperial Household Agency attending.
Cheers and applause erupted when a display showed officials switching on equipment for producing 500-yen and 100-yen coins embossed with "Reiwa one." 500 yen is worth about 4.6 dollars, and 100 yen around 90 cents.
The mint is expected to send the new coins to the Bank of Japan as early as this month. They are to be circulated across the country through commercial banks.
The mint plans to launch production of smaller "Reiwa one" coins such as those worth 10 yen and 50 yen.
On Thursday, the mint also began producing two types of coins to commemorate the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito.
It plans to make 50,000 gold coins with a face value of 10,000 yen, or about 90 dollars, and five million coins worth 500 yen.
The coins are also to be made at the mint's two branches in the cities of Saitama and Hiroshima.
Source: ANNnewsCH
