1000 Yen - Heisei Shinkansen

Issued as part of Japan's ongoing commemorative program marking the 50th anniversary of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, which opened on October 1, 1964 — ten days before the Tokyo Olympics began. The timing of that original launch was deliberate political theater: the bullet train was Japan's most visible proof that the country had rebuilt itself into a technological power less than two decades after unconditional surrender.

The .999 silver specification places this outside Japan's standard commemorative silver coinage, which historically used .925.