I hate money. Maybe because I never have enough. For a long time, my income kept increasing and increasing, but I never seemed to be pleased. "Ahh, if only I had an extra $100 a month." "If I make x per year I can live very comfortable." But of course, as your salary increases, so does your standard of living. $1 boxes of macaroni and cheese don't cut it after college; instant ramen and TV dinners aren't a steady diet. Staying home and watching TV loses its appeal pretty fast (Netflix and a DVR sure helped that be more fun) but cruising the mall isn't fun as an adult.
But then, you start spending $20-30 a day on meals, your mall cruising turns into actual shopping, and going to those nice museums and taking trips during those precious vacations really add up. So while you're raking in the dough, it's blowing away pretty quick! I am sure at some point money becomes no object... right?
Money may be the root of all evil, but the history of its development is fairly interesting. In downtown Tokyo, near the Imperial Palace, the Bank of Japan has a pretty good museum outlining the history of coins and bills in the country.
The museum presents information in a sort of timeline form, showing the development of coins and eventually paper money, and how they've changed over time (especially with inflation). It starts with bartered goods (arrowheads and rice, for example). Several examples of actual coins and bills are provided, and there is a lot of English signage. Photos aren't allowed inside the museum, but
the website has a PDF version of their photo book with pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like.
Admission is free; the museum is open 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM Tuesday through Sunday - last admission is at 4. Access is pretty easy from Mitsukoshimae Station or other surrounding stations, such as Tokyo Station. Use the museum's
excellent English website to see more - photos (in the photo book PDF), directions, special hours on and around holidays, and more.
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