Owner Comments:

JNDA 02-11. The 5 yen underwent a major design shift with the return of a holed coin. The lettering style is 'script' or 'kaisho' styled. The main design element is rice and water around the center hole, and a gear surrounding the hole.

Most of the current coinage has Arabic numerals in addition to the kanji writing, but the 5 yen coin is the exception. Like the 10 yen coin, this iteration of the 5 yen has a change in design that warrants a new catalog number, but remains similar enough to the subsequent coin that this version circulated simultaneously and could still be found in pocket change (at least in the early 2000s).

Diameter 22 mm, brass, weight 3.75 grams.