Traveling around East Asia, a small pet peeve of mine is how high currency denominations are in countries like Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. Is there a historical reason why bigger denominations seem to be so favored, even if at best it's a non-issue but at worst a very mild inconvenience? Why even include the possibility for any mild inconvenience and not just work with smaller denominations? Thanks!
When Cambodia introduced the Riel after independence, a Riel was worth approximately 1US$. For smaller amounts "sen" coins were used. Hyperinflation meant that by 1970 there were 55 Riels to a US$. By 1975 this had increased to almost 1000. It was abolished during the Pol Pot regime. A new Riel was introduced in 1980 at 4 Riel to a US$. Periodic devaluation and hyperinflation, especially during the UNTAC period meant that by the late 1990s it was worth around 4000 to the dollar and has remained around that rate since.
http://intl.econ.cuhk.edu.hk/exchange_rate_regime/index.php?cid=13
If you look at the Vietnamese Dong you'll see a similar pattern:
http://intl.econ.cuhk.edu.hk/exchange_rate_regime/index.php?cid=12
Introduced in 1978 at a rate of approx. 2 Dong to the US$, there are now more than 20,000 Dong to the dollar!
I would say that there are two reasons: linguistics and economics.
First, in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, the counting system goes by ten-thousands. In Korean, for instance, there is 일 - il - 1 십 - ship - 10 백 - baek - 100 천 - cheon - 1,000 만 - man - 10,000
When prices are quoted in Korean, they are quoted as "two ten-thousand" (20,000won). Linguistically it's different than saying "twenty-thousand." All things are measured like that. City populations are "45 ten-thousand," not "four-hundred and fifty-thousand." So people look at numbers differently in that regard.
Source: I'm a linguist who lives in Korea.
Economically, let's take a look at the Bank of Korea.
It was founded in June 1950, just in time to be rendered useless by the Korean War. They first introduced 1,000 won and 100 won banknotes. These were used in conjunction with the old currency (Korean Yen) of the colonial period, and the Bank of Joseon (1392-1910) currency. There were already 100, 10, 5, and 1 won notes, as well as 20, 10, and 5 jeon notes (jeon is equal to 1/100won)
The war caused huge inflation. In 1953, the BoK issued hwan notes with 1 hwan equally 100 won in a currency revaluation.
In 1962, the bank RE-introduced the won, which is still the currency in use today. The re-introduction of the won/jeon system was done at 10:1 (10won=1hwan) and the value was pegged at 125 won to 1USD. This means that the Korean won of 1962 was valued at around the same amount as the Japanese yen is today (124:1 as of today).
The reason that it's so much higher now is economics. The pegs were adjusted over the years and the won became a floating currency at the end of 1997, when it lost around 50% of it's value as part of the Asian Financial Crisis. The Korean government is active in keeping the won "cheap" to keep their export-driven economy strong.
For more information, check out the Bank of Korea's page on currency timelines. There are also pages regarding the Bank Act of Korea.
I believe those countries do not have, or do not commonly use, monetary subunits, such as a U.S. cent. If you convert U.S. dollar bills to U.S. cent bills, the denominations are more similar.