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Fishy Food
Two traditional Japanese foods are sushi and sashimi.
Both of them have raw fish in them, served on a bed of...guess what.
Rice! The 5-yen coin features an ear of rice. Growing and eating this grain has been a central part of Japanese life for centuries. The Japanese used to eat so much rice that the same word—"gohan"—means both "cooked rice" and "meal." Rice has also been used as money there!
U.S. coins have pictured grains too.
For 50 years (1909 to 1958), one-cent coins showed wheat on the back, and are often called "wheat pennies." Wheat is grown in 42 of our 50 states. It played a major part in keeping the early settlers of the West alive, and was even used as money in some places.
But that's wheat. What about rice? Rice appears on an American coin: 2003's Arkansas quarter!
Watch out for that wasabe, Flip!
Does Inspector Collector get the point?
It's time to find out!
