Emperor's Accession Commemorative 100,000-Yen Gold Coin (Heisei 2, 1990) | Design, Weight and Issue Record

On 7 January 1989 (Shōwa 64), on the death of Emperor Shōwa, Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the throne. The Enthronement Ceremony, at which the accession was proclaimed at home and abroad, was held at the Imperial Palace on 12 November 1990 (Heisei 2). According to the Imperial Household Agency's record, some 2,200 people attended, including heads of state and congratulatory envoys from 158 countries, and about 117,000 people lined the route from the Palace to the Akasaka Residence for the procession that followed.

The legal basis for commemorative coins is the Act on Currency Units and Issuance of Coins, which sets three face values for commemorative coins: 10,000, 5,000 and 1,000 yen. The Finance Minister explained in the Diet that because this Act did not allow a commemorative coin above 10,000 yen, the government had submitted a bill so that a 100,000-yen gold coin could be issued.

As a result, the Act on the Issuance of 100,000-Yen Coins to Commemorate the Accession of His Majesty the Emperor (Act No. 29 of 1990) was promulgated on 13 June 1990. The material, weight and number to be issued were set by a Cabinet Order promulgated on 10 August of the same year (Cabinet Order No. 245 of 1990).

Issuing a commemorative coin under a special law was not new. In the Diet, the precedents cited were the 1,000-yen silver coin for the Tokyo Olympic Games and the 100,000-yen gold and 10,000-yen silver coins for the 60th year of Emperor Shōwa's reign.

According to the Ministry of Finance's List of Commemorative Coins, the obverse shows "a phoenix and auspicious clouds" and the reverse "the chrysanthemum crest, paulownia and arabesque". The list does not explain what each motif represents.

How the design was chosen was also raised in the Diet. According to the Director-General of the Ministry of Finance's Financial Bureau, a private advisory group to the Finance Minister met three times, on 9 January, 28 March and 5 April 1990, and many members said the government should be cautious about using the Emperor's portrait. A portrait had also not been adopted for the Shōwa 60th-year commemorative coins.

The same answer mentioned a technical view from the Mint: because pure gold is soft, lettering on the edge could become distorted.

In the list, only two coins have "a phoenix and auspicious clouds" as the obverse design: this coin and the 10,000-yen gold coin issued in Reiwa 1 (2019) for the accession of the present Emperor.

While this coin was being prepared, on 29 January 1990 the counterfeiting of the 100,000-yen gold coin issued in 1986 (Shōwa 61) for the 60th year of Emperor Shōwa's reign came to light, when a financial institution in Tokyo reported it to the Metropolitan Police. According to the National Police Agency's answers in the Diet, three coin dealers in Japan had imported about 105,000 pieces between March 1988 (Shōwa 63) and January 1990, all of which were judged to be counterfeit. They had been sent from Switzerland. In an answer given in October 1990, the number of pieces identified as counterfeit was about 108,000.

The Shōwa coin was 20.0 g of pure gold with a face value of 100,000 yen. The Finance Minister said in the Diet that the government had often been told that the value of its gold, around 60,000 yen at issue, had fallen to around 40,000 yen with the movement of gold prices, and that this gap had invited counterfeiting.

For the Heisei coin, the weight was increased from the planned 20 grams to 30 grams. The government gave three reasons: the image of commemorative gold coins had suffered from the counterfeiting case; the coin should be one that people would keep and value for a long time and could appreciate as a work of art; and the incentive to counterfeit should be reduced.

The answers also described, as plans, anti-counterfeiting measures for the new coin, including a polished surface finish, changing the shape of 2 of the 90 bead-like dots around the design, and enclosing a paper bearing a serial number.

The mintage was first set at 3,500,000 and announced in early January 1990. The Director-General of the Financial Bureau explained that it was set at about one third of the Shōwa 60th-year gold coin because, with that coin, some people who won the lottery did not collect their coins, and more pieces ended up circulating.

The issue was also first planned for the autumn of 1990. The government order fixing the mintage at 2,000,000 was promulgated on 10 August 1990.\n\nOn why the mintage and timing changed, the Director-General of the Financing Bureau told the Diet in October 1990 that, as a result of careful production from the standpoint of anti-counterfeiting measures and other concerns, the issue had to stop at 2,000,000. In April 1991 the government explained in the Diet that adjusting the minting machines for the anti-counterfeiting measures had required a long preparation period, so that production began in November 1990, and that 2,000,000 was what could be made within fiscal 1990. Exchange took place in April 1991.\n\nThese are the government's explanations in its Diet answers. The order (August) was promulgated before production began (November), and apart from those answers no record has been found that shows how the decision on the mintage was reached.

As a result, although the coin is dated Heisei 2, its exchange start date, 10 April 1991, came 149 days after the Enthronement Ceremony. The 500-yen cupronickel coin for the same accession began to be exchanged on 8 November 1990, 4 days before the ceremony.

On the government revenue from issuing 2,000,000 coins, the government told the Diet in April 1991 that it was about 70 billion yen.