I just came back from my first stay in Tokyo. Great city, loved it.

During my stay I accumulated a lot of those ridiculous 1 Yen coins.

Most vending machines don´t take them and it was too embarrassing to give all of them to the cashier...

How does the experienced Japan-Traveller get rid of them??

I'd collect a bunch of them, melt them, and make myself a 1-yen bong pipe.

You could always donate them. I know in AMS (and I'm sure in other airports) there are charity collection boxes which accept all currencies.

Personally, I use them along the way, but the actual use of change to purchase things seems to be a trait not carried on the Y chromosome.

If you place them flat on the surface of a glass of water, they will float.
I bet Smidgen could watch that for hours on end, if he could stay awake.

If they vibrate or move around, he'd attack them with his six fingered paws, after staring at them for a while and rolling his ears back. When he's focused on prey like that, he's oblivious to pretty much anything else. You should watch him climb halfway up a wall chasing a laser pointer dot.

I usuall hoard as many as I can and fling them towards Meiji Jingu on New Years Eve (to spectacular effect).


Come to think of it, I usually dont accumulate that many as I continually throw them to deities of local shrines when I travel in Japan and Tokyo.

I try to use them as I go for small purchases. Then, on my last day, usually at the airport, I buy drinks or snacks or something at a konbini (7-11, Lawson's, whatever). They always have a donation drop-box near the cash register. All the 1 and 5 yen coins go in there.

JR

We have this thing at the office called the "Office Glico", which is basically an "honor system" candy station, where everything costs 100 yen. Since I think this is a particularly mean-spirited and cheap-... approach to snacks (in particular because every other office around the world has a full snack bar with free sodas, milk, cookies, coffee, chocolates, bread, etc.), I collect 100 1-yen coins from random change, and then buy something from the damned Office Glico using 1-yen coins.

I bet you the girl that refills the candies and takes the money loves our office...

How many exactly do you have? Depending on the number, you could:

Drill small holes in them and stitch them to a shirt to make a scalemail shirt for the next Creative Anachronism faire.

They're fairly soft, so file off the back sides of two of the one-Yen coins, solder together what's left to make a two-headed coin. Great for winning bets.

Paste them on the outside of a small wooden box to make a cheap omiyage (souvenir) for yourself or one of your loved ones back home.

Pretend they are pirate treasure and bury them in the backyard. For more fun, make a treasure map and leave it lying around for some neighborhood kids to find. (But if you do this, make sure you bury the "treasure" in someone else's yard.)

Give them to an acquaintance who is on their own way to Japan, and see how many they come home with.

All it takes is a little imagination.

When I was growing up, Kellogg's had a "coins of the world" promotion in my people's land. They would have low denomination coins from all over the world, one or two per cereal box. The Japan coin was the 1 yen coin, sometimes the 5 yen coin. At the time, it was 350 yen to the dollar, so it wasn't exactly a major treasure find.

By the way, the coins were exactly the same, even the same cheap aluminum feel.

You could keep a bunch for passover and use them as afikoman.

What's embarrassing about using 1 yen coins?

I'd rather make use of those small coins than walk around with my pockets full of shrapnell. Naturally, the ideal is when the available coins allow one to pay with the exact change... but failing that, I just aim to end up with fewer coins in my pocket than I started with.

Sometimes the store clerks get confused with the somewhat weird amounts that I hand over when making a purchase. It doesn't embarrass me. Once they punch the number into the till and realize that they're going to give me a single 500yen coin in change, they understand my game.

As for what to do with the coins that are left when I leave the country. Isn't that what the charity boxes in airport terminals are for?

Personally I'd try and collect ichioku of them

if you know any children- say over age 7 (so they don't swallow them)- give them one- costs you nothing, its a big deal for them especially when you explain its the equivalent of our penny- kids can relate- and may ask you to bring back coins from other countries, too

Use them in penny poker games.

I have a Y chromosome and I try to spend change just as I get them, anywhere in the world. Hand over the loose change first then the larger denomination prevents misunderstanding than other way around. I have paid for a 147 jpy drink at a FamilyMart convenience store with 7 1-yen coins and a 1man note. The cashier did not even flinch and happily counted out gosen, rokusen, nanasen, hachisen, kyuusen...

Now, the 10 and 50 yen pieces are useful at train stations and vending machines. The 100 and 500 yen coins are for UFO catchers and other prize machines.

Fortunately, not too many people get snarky about accepting 1man notes other than taxi drivers (which I find very annoying).