One-Yen Coin Maker Ends 4-Year Hiatus for Abe Sales Tax

Akao Aluminum Co., Japan’s only supplier of one-yen coins, produced its first batch in four years to meet an expected surge in demand for small change when the country’s sales tax increases to 8 percent on April 1.

Akao this month finished about 26 million faceless one-gram aluminum coins that it sent to the Japan Mint’s Hiroshima branch, where the figure “1” and the year is being stamped on one side, and a symbol of a tree on the other, said Yoshinori Nakao, the production manager of the Tokyo-based company.