10 Euros - Beatrix Friendship with Japan

Issued to mark 400 years of Dutch-Japanese relations, a relationship that began when the Liefde ran aground on the Japanese coast in 1600 — the only Dutch vessel of a five-ship fleet to survive the voyage. The Dutch were eventually granted exclusive European trading rights at Dejima, the artificial island in Nagasaki harbor, where they remained the sole Western presence in Japan for over two centuries during the Sakoku isolation period.

The 2009 commemorative program was a joint initiative between the Netherlands and Japan, with matching issues struck by both countries' mints simultaneously.