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Thread: What do you do with coins in Japan?

  1. #1
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    Default What do you do with coins in Japan?

    I have a huge box of coins and I have no idea what to do with them!

    I have a Shinsei and a SMBC account, but I don't want to go through the effort of counting them at the bank as I don't speak much Japanese.

    Any ideas?

    Big Al

  2. #2
    TJrandom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigal View Post
    I have a huge box of coins and I have no idea what to do with them!

    I have a Shinsei and a SMBC account, but I don't want to go through the effort of counting them at the bank as I don't speak much Japanese.

    Any ideas?

    Big Al
    Give them to a homeless person…
    Give them to a charity – find a donation box at your ward office, a convenience store, a hospital, etc.
    Scatter them on the street
    Bury them in a park
    Take them to a bar and buy the rounds until the staff confirm it has all been used.
    Take them to an airport and drop them in the donation bin.
    Take them to a bank or post office – and have them count them
    Start using them....

  3. #3

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    why they didnt take the 1 yens out yet is bizarre. Who needs those plastic coins? nobody uses them.

  4. #4
    hml's Avatar
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    Buy a slingshot...
    Stick them in door jams...
    Put them on train tracks...
    Leave some in vending machines...
    Leave tips and refuse to take them back...
    Glue them to the sidewalk...
    Pass them out at a local school...


    or deposit them in your bank account with the machine. It will count them for you in a very short time. voilà!
    ニョロニョロ

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by bigal View Post
    I have a huge box of coins and I have no idea what to do with them!

    I have a Shinsei and a SMBC account, but I don't want to go through the effort of counting them at the bank as I don't speak much Japanese.

    Any ideas?

    Big Al
    Go to the post office, they have an automatic coin sorting machine and if you open an account they will put the money in your account for you.

    Just say "kore o nyukin shite kudasai" and hand over coins.

    I put coins in the machine at the station to fill up my Icoca card

  6. #6

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    It's money, use it to buy stuff with.

    I once collected a large number of 5 yen and 1 yen coins, so what I did was use the spare change there to purchase things, a few 1yen coins here and few 5yen coins there at the combini and eventually they ran out.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by themoonrules View Post
    It's money, use it to buy stuff with.

    I once collected a large number of 5 yen and 1 yen coins, so what I did was use the spare change there to purchase things, a few 1yen coins here and few 5yen coins there at the combini and eventually they ran out.
    Convenience stores love it when you give them lots of small change. Buy one of those numbered coin cases that you can stack them in.

  8. #8
    twelvedown's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by wernst View Post
    why they didnt take the 1 yens out yet is bizarre. Who needs those plastic coins? nobody uses them.
    Same deal with pennies in America. At least the Japnese are smart enough to have 100 yen coins instead of bills.

    Quote Originally Posted by KansaiBen View Post
    I put coins in the machine at the station to fill up my Icoca card
    Oh...people like you at the station... "There's, 780 yen...790.... getting there, getting there..."

    actually, the station machines are a good ay of getting rid of them....

    I have never understood the whole coin storing thing.

    And the amount of people who have invented the wonderful savings method of "I keep all my 500yen coins"

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by madazzahatter View Post
    Don't do this one....I got arrested once for doing this.
    hahaha I would like to have seen that!
    ニョロニョロ

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by twelvedown View Post
    And the amount of people who have invented the wonderful savings method of "I keep all my 500yen coins"
    I bought a dog last year with 500yen coins.
    He cost 400 500 yen coins.
    So suck it.
    Fred

  11. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by shonanfred View Post
    I bought a dog last year with 500yen coins.
    He cost 400 500 yen coins.
    So suck it.
    Fred
    200,000 yen for a dog. I got mine for free. Pedigree too.

  12. #12
    twelvedown's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shonanfred View Post
    I bought a dog last year with 500yen coins.
    He cost 400 500 yen coins.
    So suck it.
    Fred
    If only he knew and could speak...
    "That's how much you love me?! You paid for me in COINS!?"

    At least it would have given the petshop person a good old 'them wacky gaijin!' story...

  13. #13
    hml's Avatar
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    On an old thread, back in the Golden Era of GP, somebody commented how he would pay the NHK collector in coins - 1 yen at a time. I'm too lazy to do the search, but apparently, he asked if he could pay in installments, to which the collector readily agreed. The next day, he came and the poster gave him 1 yen and told him to come the next day and he would pay him another yen.

    Since then, I've been hoping that the collectors would come to my place!
    ニョロニョロ

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by madazzahatter View Post
    Brilliant idea ! I wonder if that would work for the tax man ?
    Maybe, but when your house is burning down one day the fire truck will come with a bucket instead of a hose.

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by twelvedown View Post
    If only he knew and could speak...
    "That's how much you love me?! You paid for me in COINS!?"

    At least it would have given the petshop person a good old 'them wacky gaijin!' story...
    Petshop???? Sister pulease.
    Fred

  16. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by madazzahatter View Post
    Brilliant idea ! I wonder if that would work for the tax man ?
    Pretty sure that there is a legal limit as to how much you can pay using coins unless the other party is willing to accept them.

  17. #17

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    Quote Originally Posted by Morton View Post
    Pretty sure that there is a legal limit as to how much you can pay using coins unless the other party is willing to accept them.
    I was under the impression that, given that it is legal tender, refusal to accept is a crime.
    (At least this is how it works in KB's beloved Amurica.
    Fred
    PS OP, you could send them to KB to help him pay his 電気代....

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