Yen Japan was officially adopted by the Meiji government in an Act signed on May 10, 1871. The new currency, in the form of a silver coin similar to the contemporary Mexican Peso, was gradually introduced beginning from July of that year. The yen replaced the complex monetary system of the Edo period, based on the mon. The New Currency Act of 1871 stipulated the adoption of the decimal accounting system of yen (1,), sen (1⁄100), and rin (1⁄1000), with the coins being round and cast as in the West. The yen was legally defined as 0.78 troy ounces (24.26 g) of pure silver, or 1.5 grams of pure gold. The same amount of silver is worth about 1181 modern yen, while the same amount of gold is worth about 4715 yen. The Act also moved Japan onto the gold standard. (The sen and the rin were eventually taken out of circulation at the end of 1953.The yen sign: ¥; code: JPY is the currency of Japan. It is the third most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market after United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro (EU) and the pound sterling (GBP).
