It is Sakura Season along with Spring Football

[Alaskawildkat]

For some reason there was some glitch keeping me from posting this on The Rant Board.

While the United States Mint has never officially depicted cherry blossoms or cherry trees on its coins, the Washington D.C. Quarter featuring Duke Ellington was promoted with a scene showing cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin in Potomac Park.

While various of the United States featured trees in the America the Beautiful Quarter Program, Washington D.C. missed the opportunity, depicting an historical site rather than the natural beauty of its cherry trees.
Nevada's America the Beautiful Quarter features a bristlecone pine located within its Great Basin National Park; Michigan's Chapel Rock is complimented by a white pine tree; and even the U.S. Virgin Islands has on its coin a young red mangrove tree.

The Canadian Mint has offered several of its colorized coins with cherry trees and their colorful blossoms.
Needless to say though, it is Japan that has most prominently included cherry blossoms on its principle coinage. Included here is the 100 Yen coin, the equivalent of our one dollar coins, with its featured cherry blossoms.

Unlike the United States where we have both one dollar coins and one dollar bills, Japan only issues coins today. It has been decades since 100 yen notes circulated in Japan. In fact the same is true for their equivalent of the five dollar bill, as only 500 Yen coins have been made since 1984 and the 500 Yen bills were withdrawn from circulation ten years later in 1994.

And this is what the 500 Yen note once looked like, excepting my added face from back in the late 60s on the left side of the bill:

In Washington D.C. and in Japan it is now the season to celebrate cherry blossoms as was brought home by this current photo just provided by a friend in Japan.

While non residents of Japan have been restricted from joining in and enjoying Sakura Season this and last spring, here are some photos I was able to take when Japan was still open to foreign visitors in 2019:
Blossoming cherry trees surround Tokyo Tower:

Sakura frames Himeji Castle:

Cherry trees in bloom line the moat approaching Kanazawa's Castle Gate:

Sakura in the Ise region of Japan:

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Someone pointed out to me that the 500 Coin pictured in my original post is not 500 Yen, but rather 500 wan, as it is from Korea. Apparently I got it in change from a vending machine in Japan as the two coins are similar and in the past could be used interchangeably in vending machines.

That brought to mind that here in Alaska we would use United States and Canadian coinage interchangeably when I was a kid though we don't see that anymore.

 

[kreggk]

Someone pointed out to me that the 500 Coin pictured in my original post is not 500 Yen, but rather 500 wan, as it is from Korea. Apparently I got it in change from a vending machine in Japan as the two coins are similar and in the past could be used interchangeably in vending machines.

That brought to mind that here in Alaska we would use United States and Canadian coinage interchangeably when I was a kid though we don't see that anymore.

In MI, where I grew up, we used Canadian coins regularly as well. Literally never gave it a thought until you brought it up. A nice little flashback to my youth.

 

[Gladeskat]

In MI, where I grew up, we used Canadian coins regularly as well. Literally never gave it a thought until you brought it up. A nice little flashback to my youth.

Same in northern Vermont, even though Canadian coins are not legal tender in the US and vice versa.

My brother and I put together a complete set of George VI (1937-52) and Elizabeth II (1953 to 1967) Canadian small cents from coins in circulation in Vermont, Massachusetts, and elsewhere when we were kids. We found about a dozen George V cents (1920-1936) as well.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Just came across this block of stamps that I had acquired at the 1970 Japan World's Fair (Expo 70) which include a Sakura depiction.

 

[DrillCat]

Someone pointed out to me that the 500 Coin pictured in my original post is not 500 Yen, but rather 500 wan, as it is from Korea. Apparently I got it in change from a vending machine in Japan as the two coins are similar and in the past could be used interchangeably in vending machines.

That brought to mind that here in Alaska we would use United States and Canadian coinage interchangeably when I was a kid though we don't see that anymore.

That is correct. It’s a 500 Won coin. ( not Wan ) Equivalent to just about 50 cents.

 

[Alaskawildkat]

That is correct. It’s a 500 Won coin. ( not Wan ) Equivalent to just about 50 cents.

Thanks. Now I see why the vending machines in Japan have now been updated to not allow for the 500 Won coins to substitute for 500 Yen coins equivalent to just about 5 dollars!

Complementing the above Sakura photos in Japan, here are some flowering trees from Springtime in Korea:

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Some added Sakura photos from Himeji Castle.

These added Cherry Blossom views were captured at Himeji Castle in 2019 before the travel restrictions were put in place.


For the movie buffs here, Himeji Castle was the shooting location for the Ninja school featured in the James Bond Film, "You Only Live Twice" which was filmed in 1967. There were a number of exterior shots featuring Himeji Castle including the walkway that one takes to enter the castle and climb to its top. Included are photos I took from the top of the castle looking down over the tiled roofs to the cherry blossom trees seen below. To get to the top one climbs on hands and knees a series of steep vertical steps and ladders as there is no elevator and the designers of the castle purposely made it difficult for any intruders to have easy access to the upper floors.

(Additional scenes had been planned to be shot there but a local controversy erupted when a local newspaper erroneously reported that the Ninja Stars being thrown at an interior castle wall were causing damage to the historic structure. The producers responded that a fake wall had been erected for the scene, but the bad publicity had already done its damage and the producers went elsewhere in Japan to finish the shooting.)