1000 Yen - Heisei Toyama

Issued as part of Japan's 47 Prefectures Coin Program, a series launched in 2008 to produce commemorative silver pieces for each of Japan's administrative regions. Toyama Prefecture's entry arrived in 2011 — the same year the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck, an event that disrupted Mint operations and complicated the program's release schedule considerably. Toyama itself sits on the Sea of Japan coast, geographically remote from the disaster zone, but nationwide logistical strain was unavoidable.

The .999 fine specification places this outside Japan's earlier commemorative silver standards, which typically used .925.