Front: “Kaizen” (改善) · “Always evolving” · “Small steps · Big change”
Back: “Grow a little every day”
At a glance
- Theme: tiny daily improvement
- Good for: training, studying, a new skill, a business, a long recovery
- Gift for: a runner or athlete, an engineer or lean team, a coach, a student, anyone building something slowly
- Finishes: Antique Bronze (brass alloy), Antique Silver (brass alloy)
- Size: 39 mm, about 1 oz, die struck in the USA
The meaning
Kaizen is a Japanese word made of two kanji, 改 (change) and 善 (good): change for the better. It became known around the world through the Toyota Production System and Masaaki Imai's 1986 book on it, as the habit of improving a little, all the time, everywhere.
The back puts it in five words: grow a little every day. One percent better is too small to notice today and impossible to miss in a year.
The design
The front shows Mount Fuji under a rising sun and clouds, with a small temple and a long flight of stone steps climbing toward it, KAIZEN across the middle and the kanji below. The back sets the quote between two branches of cherry blossom.
On good days and hard days
- On good days, it keeps you from coasting: grow a little more today, even when things are going well.
- On hard days, when progress feels invisible, it reminds you that small steps still count and that one better day at a time adds up to big change.
Carry it
Keep it in your gym bag, your running pocket or next to the work you do every day. One customer, a runner, wrote that kaizen is the philosophy they have always lived by and that they had been looking for a coin like this for a long time. Another put theirs in a pocket right away.
Give it
It is a good gift for an athlete, a coach, a student or a team that works on continuous improvement. It also suits a New Year, a first marathon plan or someone recovering step by step.
Specs
- Diameter: 1.54 in (39 mm), about the size of a silver dollar
- Thickness: 2.7 mm
- Weight: about 1 oz (28 g)
- Material: brass alloy (Antique Bronze, Antique Silver)
- Made: die struck, minted in the USA
- Each coin is antiqued with a special patina so it looks like it has already been in circulation. The patina never settles the same way twice, so no two coins look exactly alike. Small variations in color and shading are normal, and they are what make your coin one of a kind.
Questions
What does kaizen mean?
“Change for the better” in Japanese. In business and training it means continuous, small improvement.
What do the kanji on the coin say?
改善, kaizen: change (改) and good (善).
What is a good kaizen gift for a team or coach?
Something they can see every day. This coin says the whole idea in one line: grow a little every day.
Other coins you might like
- Habit Transformation Coin: for building better habits
- Wabi Sabi Coin: peace with imperfection
- Samurai Spirit Coin: fall seven times, stand up eight
- Goal Achiever Coin: imagine, believe, achieve
Care: keep it dry and wipe it with a soft cloth. No polishing needed; the aged finish is part of the look.
Original design by EDC Reminder Coins, protected by copyright. We don't take custom orders.