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[This question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2423/are-there-
names-like-for-the-other-coins) about alternate terms for coins focused on the
use of ワンコイン, but it got me thinking about slang terms for money in general.

In all the years I've been in Japan, I don't think I've regularly heard people
use slang terms for money they way they do in, say, North America.

In Canada, everyone routinely uses "loonies" to refer to the one dollar coin.

A guy from the US recently said to me, "it's all about the Benjamins." Bucks,
greenbacks, cheddar, and more are a matter of regular conversation.

I could probably say, "it's all about the Fukuzawas," but I think they would
see it more as me at play than using a commonly accepted slang.

On the coin level, in North American English, we almost exclusively use
nickels and pennies in place of "5 cent coins" and "1 cent coins", for
example.

By contrast, I can't think of anyone referring to a hundred yen coin in any
way except its value, `百円{ひゃくえん}`.

Am I right in thinking that Japanese on the whole don't really feel a
compulsion to give nicknames to their units of currency? A little web
searching hasn't turned up a wealth of terms that I was unaware of, but my
Google-fu is always a little lacking in Japanese.

By the way, bonus karma points for anyone who can translate "it's all about
the Fukuzawas." I can't figure out how to convey the vague "it" part which
refers in a vague way to life or living or "the reason to do stuff".
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word-choice words slang
What are slang terms for Japanese money?
My Google-fu isn't doing any better, so the best I can do is throw my single
data point into the ring and say that I have heard, on multiple occasions,
"Yukichi" (not "Fukuzawa") used in colloquial conversation to refer to a
10,000-yen note. So if you really wanted to, I suppose you could say something
like:

> 大事なのは財布に諭吉がいるかいないかってことさ。 The important thing is whether you've got the
> Yukichis in your wallet.

At which point you take one last draw on your cigarette before flicking it
away and riding off into the Tokyo sunset on your tricked-out Vespa.

Historically, we have to remember that ~~all throughout the Tokugawa period~~
traditionally, the merchant class was at or near the low end of the totem pole
(see note), and so the enshrinement of capitalism we see in many Western
countries never really found its way to Japan. This may account for the
relative lack of "colorful" terms for referring to money in Japanese.
(Warning: this is all armchair historian talk and highly speculative.)

* * *

※ sawa brought an undefended claim against this statement, so I will attempt
to clarify here. The idea that the merchant class was regarded as one of the
lowest feudal classes derives from Confucian philosophy, which played a large
part in the formation of Japanese culture. The merchant profession, being one
in which money was gained without producing any goods or (seemingly)
contributing any value to society, was often looked on less than favorably by
the rest of the populace. (For more information, see _The Making of Modern
Japan_ by Marius Jansen or _Japan: A Modern History_ by James McClain.) This
is not to say that all merchants were corrupt (only some were, as in every
society), nor is it to say that they did not play an important role in the
formation of modern Japan (they certainly and emphatically did). As with many
traditional ideas, this view of merchants faded with time, and is entirely
absent in today's Japan.
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Although not a word, the only "slang" I've ever "heard" for money is to rub
your thumb back and forth across the tips of your middle and index fingers;
often accompanied by これ ("money") or どうですか？ ("Are you making money?").
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Most of these may be more colloquialism than slang but for what it's worth:

[文]{もん} as in the word [文無]{もんな}し、[万札]{まんさつ} for 一万円札、ピン[札]{さつ} for "a brand-
new bill"、ドル[箱]{ばこ} means "gold mine", "money tree", etc.、 おあし（御足） is slang
for money.

There should be more if not a whole lot more. Just listing off the top of my
head the ones that I rarely, if ever, hear/see Japanese learners use.
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I saw a tweet that led me here. The person is a doctor and Japanese translator
living in Austria. He made me wonder if it was true so I checked Google like a
good millennial who speaks and reads, writes, breathes North American
English... Google Translator is no way my failsafe but since I didn't feel
like emailing my college professor for East Asian History from 8 years ago I
decided to check. The tool can be quite accurate at times. Looks like money
did mean something with Yukichi as stated years ago here by a commentor. But
the Satoshi thing was also interesting given that its 2022. And well... enough
said. The tweet was claiming that "Satoshi" is slang for 10000-yen in Japanese
writing.

[![Looks like whether it referred to "yen" or "money" Yukichis definitely
translate to something many regard as a unit of currency, if not the creator
of its implementation as a proper
noun...](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oUWYO.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oUWYO.png)
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