Japan: Emperor Meiji (One-Coin Box)

The first monarch of the Empire of Japan, Emperor Meiji implemented a series of changes as rapid as they were ambitious, transforming Japan from a retrograde, isolationist state to an industrialized world power. When Mutsuhito was born in 1852, Japan was a pre-industrial feudal country dominated by the xenophobic Tokugawa shogunate. He became Emperor in 1867. By the time of his death in 1912, Japan had undergone an extensive political, economic, and social revolution—the Meiji Restoration—emerging as a legitimate rival to the United States and Great Britain on the world stage. This silver 50 sen coin, featuring the familiar sunburst emblem, was struck from 1906-12, in the  last years of Emperor Meiji’s long reign.