500 Yen - Heisei Kagawa

Kagawa Prefecture's entry in Japan's 47 Prefecture Coin Program, which ran from 2008 to 2016, this issue was part of a circulation series that became one of the most actively collected regional programs in modern Japanese numismatics — not by design, but because prefectural affiliation drove ordinary citizens to seek out their home issues. Kagawa, the smallest prefecture by area, was assigned its slot in the program's later rounds.

The bimetallic format had been standard for Japanese 500 yen since the 2000 reissue, introduced specifically to combat widespread counterfeiting of the previous nickel-brass monoetal coin.