New Japanese bank notes
This picture above is from the front page of the Wednesday, April 10, 2019 print edition of The Japan Times print newspaper. Finance Minister Taro Aso announced new designs for 10,000-yen, 5,000-yen and 1,000-yen bills during a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo on Tuesday (April 9, 2019).
Every twenty years or so the Japanese government redesigns its bank notes as an anti-counterfeiting measure. These new designs are scheduled for introduction in 2024. The unpopular 2,000-yen note is not being redesigned because, Mr. Aso said, so few of them are in circulation.
The 10,000-yen bill ($100 more or less) will change from featuring 19th century intellectual leader Yukichi Fukuzawa to banker and business leader Eiichi Shibusawa.
The 5,000-yen note will change from featuring 19th century female writer and poet Ichiyo Higuchi to female educator Umeko Tsuda.
And, the 1,000-yen bill will change from featuring medical scientist Hideyo Noguchi to bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato.
I like the optimism and faith in paper that this announcement demonstrates - faith that by 2024 Japan will still be a cash society. Of course, cashless businesses are already appearing here, and there is a fair argument that by 2024 we might be largely cashless. Personally, I hope not, because I’m a cash kind of guy. So far, Japan has remained a largely cash society. It reflects a deep-rooted conservatism here.
On the other hand, the introduction of new paper currency might be a great opportunity for the government to push a cashless agenda on us, by limiting the supply of money and by introducing incentives for people to use money digitally - like encouraging online payments and giving tax breaks to people who do so, etc.
With the abdication of Emperor Akihito on April 30, 2019 and the ascension of his son, Naruhito, on May 1, 2019 plus the beginning of a new Imperial Era - the Reiwa jidai - I am looking forward to some commemorative currency. I still have and carry in my wallet as a kind of good luck charm the commemorative ¥500 coin that was issued for Crown Prince Naruhito’s marriage to Masako Owada on June 9, 1993.