Here’s a beautifully compelling reason to hang onto your change when you go shopping in Japan.
Japanese coins are pretty cool. Not do they come in large enough denominations that you can buy a drink and some snacks all with a single piece of metal, certain types of disc-based yen have hidden messages and can even float on water.
But Japanese Twitter user @thumb_tani has recently been showing off another cool thing about Japanese coins: they can be stacked in awesomely creative ways.
The extreme variations in size and weight between yen coins of different values, plus the fact that the five-yen and 50-yen pieces have holes in their centers, give @thumb_tani plenty of options to work with when balancing and positioning the components of his creations.
@thumb_tani doesn’t strictly confine himself to the media of legal tender, though. When he’s looking to mix things up, he’ll also employ non-coinage elements in his work, including spoons, pens, and marbles.
▼ Umm…that’s not how a coin bank is supposed to work.
He’s certainly got a flair for the dramatic, but @thumb_tani is also aware that simplicity has a visual appeal all its own.
Being a Japanese balancing enthusiast, obviously the yen is the form of currency @thumb_tani has the easiest access to. A few of his projects also incorporate the peso, though, giving them an international flavor.
If calling someone a “balancing enthusiast” seems a little odd, be aware that if he doesn’t have any coins handy, @thumb_tani is also perfectly happy to amuse himself by using umbrellas or eggs to thumb his nose at gravity.
And while these stacks of coins look like they could topple over at the slightest shift in balance, at least one of them was stable enough to continue standing as a bug crawled its way to the top of the structure.
There’s no question that @thumb_tani is extremely talented at what he does. However, while you obviously need money to artistically stack up coins, you really can’t make much money doing that, so @thumb_tani needs a day job. We’re not sure if he’s already secured employment, but if not, he might want to see if any of his local bookstores are hiring.
Source: IT Media, Twitter/@thumb_tani
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he thinks it’s a good day if he can hand his change over to the convenience store clerk without dropping half of them on the floor.