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The 1st Floor - The 1st Exhibition Room - History of Japan Mint

Image of The 1st Exhibition Room

We have a panoramic miniature of Japan Mint at the time of its establishment, the great clock, the gas lamp and the balance made by Japan Mint at the time of its establishment. Also we have sample of coins, coinage dies, the Japanese-English dictionary employing Hepburn system, the oldest Western-book in Japan employing double bookkeeping, and materials on foreign engineers.

For more information, please visit History.

Panoramic Miniature at the Time of Establishment (1873)

Image of Panoramic Miniature at the Time of Establishment

The area of the mint used to be twice as large as that of today (It was about 180, 000 square meters).

Balance

Image of Balance

This balance was made by Ono Norichika and used to weigh produced coins such as gold coins. This kind of balance is still used at the time of annual coin test.

Gas Lamp

Panoramic Miniature at the Time of Establishment

A gas plant was established in 1871. Gas was used for gas lamps at the main gate, streets, the factory and houses on the premise of the Mint.

Great Clock

Image of Great clock

This great clock was made by Ono Norichika in 1876. It struck the hour on time in front of the factory.

Under repair.

Oldest Western-book in Japan Employing Double Bookkeeping

Image of Oldest Western-book in Japan Employing Double Bookkeeping

Japan Mint employed double bookkeeping for the first time in Japan under the guidance of V.E Braga.

Japanese-English Dictionary Employing Hepburn System

Image of Japanese-English dictionary employing Hepburn system

Since we did not have the typographic printing system at that time in Japan this dictionary was printed in Shanghai in 1867. T.W. Kinder, the director of the Mint, used it.


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