The Five Dollar Bill is Worthless

Japan, like the Euro nations, has the 1USD ppp equivalent denomination is solely in coin form. In Japan the smallest bill is 10, and in Euro it’s 5. I remember this idea getting tossed about in the states from time to time, with the argument generally falling between the federal money saved by shifting towards coinage (coins last far longer than bills, requiring less frequent replacement) versus the inconvenience of having to care about change.

Experiencing the Japanese monetary system, where 10USD equivalent is the smallest bill denomination, I can tell you it is far more convenient to have high value coinage.

Here’s how it goes. Even in the smallest of my jean pockets I can surprisingly easily throw in and pull out change, including 100 and 500 yen coins (100 yen is roughly 1USD). Then I just fold a few tens, maybe a fifty if I’m leaving town, and put those in a second pocket, not even in my wallet or money clip if I had one. Most small things (coffee, snacks, incidentals, etc.) I just pull out a handful of change. Since different coins are different sizes, colors, etc. mustering exact change from whatever I pull out of the pocket is easy and takes half a moment. If I get a meal or something, I just pull out a ten or two, whatever’s appropriate. Since there’s only really one bill denomination, I don’t have to fiddle with or separate bills (I don’t fold the bills together, just keep them separate so I can take out howevermany I want).

I’m finding that 20 dollars is a useless denomination, tens are far more convenient since most things I buy are somewhere between five and ten bucks, and anything over that I just pull out two tens, its really not that hard. For big purchases I just use 50s. This seems like a pretty elaborate description I know, but I’m trying (and probably failing) to convey that the monetary system here is much more convenient in the day-to-day than it is in the states. Dollar bills are unnecessary, nothing costs a dollar any more you just have to pull out a bunch of bills, and five dollar bills are even more worthless, it’s just a bill that gets you somewhere short of ten and therefore requires some ones.

That may sound like gibberish, but here’s the bottom line: pulling out and combining a bunch of bills is a lot harder than pulling out and combining a bunch of coins, trust me it just is. Bills are great if you only need to use one, or several of the same denomination. Having more than 2 common bill denominations is a pain, and I’m realizing that only after having given that up for this system.

Coins are much easier to handle. I know they’re heavier and all that nonsense, but it really doesn’t matter because you move your change rapidly. My first week I was just pulling out tens and accumulating change; I thought it’d take a month to get rid of it so I only took a few chunks of it here and there, often ending up not having the change I needed on me. Even so, I used up every dime in a few days. It’s just so easy to use change when there’s 1’s and 5’s in there because that’s all you need to access, you never have to combine change and bills. So, you really don’t accumulate much change. In fact, you accumulate far less than when all the change you have is a matter of cents that aren’t really worth pulling out, like we have in the states.

Anyway, this seems like a small and crazy point I’m sure, but when you get used to the convenience of this system, it sticks out.  I warn that the experience might be different for womenfolk, with the purses and wallets and all that. The whole change experience is predicated on being able to quickly and easily pull out change and bills from separate pockets.

It’s a similar system in Europe, but it’s not nearly as convenient because of all the damn bills, the 5 euro and 10 euro and 20 euro bills and all that. Lacking a 20USD equivalent and having the 5USD equivalent in coin form means that the purchases you use bills for and the purchases you use coins for are nicely separated, and you don’t need to worry about anything more than one and occasionally two denominations of bills. Japan’s is by far the best exchange system I’ve ever encountered. Except for drachmas, what a hilarious currency. ” That’ll be 10 drachmas please.” Hilarious, I don’t know how they do business with a straight face. “sales this year broke one million drachma’s“