Yen (redirected from yens)

Yen

The currency of Japan. It was introduced by the Meiji government in 1871. The yen decimalized the previously used Tokugawa currency. It was originally pegged to gold (smaller units were pegged to silver). Following World War II, the yen switched its peg to the U.S. dollar through the Bretton Woods System. In 1971, the yen began to float because it had become undervalued and because the United States left the Bretton Woods System. The currency suffered from exceptionally low value in the wake of the Asian financial crisis but stabilized by the mid- and late 2000s. Along with being a common reserve currency, it is one of the most commonly traded currencies in the world.