How to identify the Japan mint ? [Risolto]

Hi guys,

I understood that the mint mark of the Japan mint is the Japan flag:

That's fine but we have 4 pages of Japan mints …

So which one should I give to this token and why?

Mint 1

Mint 2

Mint 3

or 

Mint 4

I looked a bit and didn't find any information about how to differentiate coins produced by these branches; 
Waiting for other opinions, but I think we should gather them

Hiroshima is spelled wrong, there is no c in Hiroshima

we also seem to miss the Japan Mint in Omiya, Saitama prefecture where the 500 yen coins are made since 2016

apuking

Hiroshima is spelled wrong, there is no c in Hiroshima

 

we also seem to miss the Japan Mint in Omiya, Saitama prefecture where the 500 yen coins are made since 2016

Thanks, fixed.

Is there a source somewhere to distinguish mints branches without specific marks?

Bump :-)

Is there a source somewhere to distinguish mints branches without specific marks?

There is only source material to know where what was made. The Japan mint doesn't have mint marks per se. 

For coins the Osaka main branch did the majority of production from the beginning, the Tokyo branch (now Saitama) did mostly assaying precious metals and medal manufacture and marked some silver yen for foreign use as trade dollars. 

After the second WW the Hiroshima plant took over all of the coin manufacturing, maybe some side branches helped here and there but I have no direct sources for that.

As far as I am aware the new 500 yen coins are not exclusively manufacture in Saitama but when I tried to clear up some questions at the Mint and the Ministry of Finance they told me that information about where certain issues of either coins and or banknotes are manufactured is not allowed to be answered.

Thanks for addressing the Hiroshima spelling mistake, I wanted to fix that for ages but always forgot again.

Thanks!! As there is secret and uncertainty here, should we merge ?

Could be an option to just use 'Japan Mint' (Osaka, Hiroshima, Tokyo/Saitama or just put the information about different branches in the mint page) and add additional information as known in the comment section.

The banknote manufacturing would have the same “problem” they also produce at at least 5 or 6 different locations.

Done for coins!

Tokyo branch started minting coins in 1941 (And medals of honour in 1939), but was completely destroyed by aerial attacks on 13 April 1945.

Osaka Mint also partially damaged by aerial attacks on 7 June 1945.

Hiroshima branch was established on 1 February 1945 and was damaged by nuclear blast on 6 August 1945. The Mint resume producing coins on 15 January 1946.

Tokyo branch also resume minting coins in January 1946.

So we can assume by timeline that any coins before 1941 were minted at Osaka.

(You can copy and add to mint details. I translate from Wikipedia and Mint website.)