１０円玉製造、過去２０年で最少に　キャッシュレス普及で―財務省

　１０円や１円といった小額硬貨の製造枚数が減少し続けている。財務省の２０２２年度計画によると、１０円硬貨の製造枚数は前年度実績より約３割少ない１億２００万枚。この２０年間で最少となる見込みだ。１円、５円もそれぞれ１００万枚にとどまる。キャッシュレス決済の普及により、「小銭」の出番は急速に失われている。
　一般的に、硬貨は約３０年経過すると摩耗や汚れが目立つようになり、流通状況を見て徐々に新品と入れ替えていく。しかし、近年は電子マネーやＱＲコード決済が浸透。支払いにクレジットカードを使うインターネット通販の利用も増え、現金離れが製造枚数の減少につながる。（2022/04/06-17:25）

The issuance number of small coins, such as 10 yen and 1 yen, in Japan has been on a declining trend due to the spread of cashless payments.
   In fiscal 2022, which started this month, the Finance Ministry plans to reduce the issuance number of 10-yen coins by some 30 pct from the previous year to 102 million, the lowest level in the past 20 years and a decline from 570 million in fiscal 2003.
   The ministry plans to mint one million coins each in 1 yen and 5 yen in fiscal 2022 mainly for collectors. It has issued around one million 1-yen coins in principle in recent years. For 5-yen coins, the fiscal 2022 number is the second-lowest in the past 20 years following 700,000 in the previous year.
   In general, coins become quite worn or dirty some 30 years after minting. The ministry replaces such coins with new ones in stages while checking their circulation status.
   In recent years, people have increasingly been using e-money and quick response, or QR, codes for payments and online shopping that involves the use of credit cards, leading to declines in coin issuance.