Well, ¥500, I meant, which before the yen's recent downward spiral was around $5. Hopefully the yen recovers and it is once again equal to $5, but time will tell.

See here the smallest bill they have is ¥1000, roughly $10. If I am buying something small and have to break a ¥1000 note, that would be a ton of change if we didn't have those two bigger coins. But you know, I just like coins. In the States I was always asking for $1 coins at the bank. Many times they'd give me IKEs and those things were huge, but I'd carry them around and spend them instead of bills. I'm weird, I know.

How long were you stationed in Okinawa? Did you ever make it up to the main Japanese island?