円 vs ¥: What's the difference?

In Japan, the price of an item in yen is represented with the character 円; for example, a 500 yen manga would have a price tag on it that says “500円”. However, in America, at least, the symbol used for yen is actually ¥. For example, the same manga would be written as costing “¥500”. Amazon Japan lists their prices this way as well, so I was wondering; is this more common in Japan than I originally thought? Of course, there’s no ‘correct’ way to write it, but why is there is discrepancy at all? Is it just a foreign thing (I don’t use a VPN, so my computer is in America, which is not Japan)?

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I like to think of it as 円 being the actual Japanese word for yen and ¥ being the currency symbol for yen.

Or to give a more western example, 円 is like “dollar” and ¥ is like “$”.

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The reason we use “$” over “dollar” is because it is shorter to write. Why would a Japanese person choose one or the other?

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I don’t have a satisfying answer that will create a perfect analogy between the two symbols and $ / “dollar,” and I doubt that it exists. But certainly the [Y currency symbol] is more for international financial use than domestic.

I can say that for 2.5 years I saw [Yen kanji / En] constantly on signs and products etc. etc. and only ever remember seeing [Y currency symbol] on money exchange store signs. I’m sure if you’re looking for it and you’re there, you can find it more often than just that, but for me it was to the point that when I read the thread title, I thought you were asking what the difference is between yen and another country’s currency, because I really didn’t remember the [Y w/ lines symbol] existed.

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I don’t think this is a universal rule. I’ve seen ¥ used on manga and books to list the price along with 円.

Amazon Japan seems to almost exclusively use ¥.

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Speaking anecdotally here (from, like, eight weeks of experience in Japan), you’re more likely to see ¥ in shops targetting tourists. Particularly when you’ve got printed price tags.

That’s kinda the point - they’d stick with 円, the one they’d always been using since yen were introduced, simply because there’s no particular impetus to switch to ¥. Plus, since [number]えん is how it’s pronounced anyway, why stick the symbol representing the word on the front of the number?

Is… is your IME broken. Or… copy/paste?

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I think, too, that it’s international standard to have a symbol for your currency that can’t mean anything else and goes before the digits. 円 can have other meanings, even if yen is the most common. Also, when writing with 円 I’ve seen 万 used, however with ¥ it’s always been solely numerical (¥21,500 vs 2万1500円). That last bit is anecdotal for me, I could have just not seen otherwise.

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Except for “yuan”…

It’s also an international standard to stop using fax machines, so… yeah. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I didn’t know it also went for yuan! TIL!!

And ROFL yes yes though you know we still use them on occasion in the good ol’ USA too :joy:

Edit: I did mean nothing else other than currency though. Edited the last post to fix. $ works for any country that uses dollar as their currency as well, such as Australia.

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Is it common to use the word 円 to refer to a circle?

I feel like 丸 is used more for that sense…

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i’ve sometimes seen 円 used to mean “circle” as part of a larger compound, like for example 魔法円 means “magic circle” (魔法丸 isn’t used, AFAIK).

Just yesterday I did a lesson where the students had to make two circles and 円 was used for circle.

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With which reading? えん or まる? Didn’t えん also originally mean circle?

It was えん.

And by “make” I mean, the kids stood in a circle.

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Ok. Silly question, but was just curious.

Interestingly, looking back at some photos from my trip last year, I’d say I ran into about an equal number of one vs. the other. Store signs, menus, vending machines, etc.

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