Money or monetary systems, have been traditionally based on some precious metal such as gold or silver. Originally the metal was coined. Later certificates were to stand for some amount of the stuff: the British pound was worth a pound of silver, and US currency was backed up by gold at Fort Knox.

Today, the imaginary numbers of money are based on the promise of a government and the shared trust of a people -- an elastic concept you can never put your fingers on.

Perhaps a currency could be based on something else tangible.

Earthquake­a big major earthquake is as much predicted and dreaded in Japan as in California. One of the world-wide repercussions of a massiver Japanese earthquake would be the forced liquidation of vast quantities of assets held by the very large Japanese insurance companies. This would cause a major drain of capital from the US and other countries as the insurance and reinsurance interests sold off their land and stock holdings at fire-sale prices. This, in turn, would dramatically lower the value of everyone else's assets.

Perhaps, the Japanese could then float a new yen -- one backed by the land in the Emperor's compound in Tokyo.

After the earthquake, the Emperor would make a gift of his compound to the people of Japan. Trillions of New Yen would be issued, coexisting with the Old Yen, and used to finance reconstruction. This New Yen would be backed by specific square-centemeters of near-sacred land rather than precious metal. After a one-time offering, no further New Yen would be issued. The Emperor would still live at the compound, now owned by the people of Japan.

Brass bands would play as the Emperor lays the first stone of the reconstruction of Tokyo.