New Bank Notes to be Issued in 2004 to Counter Forgeries.

(From Journal of Japanese Trade & Industry (JJTI))

Japan will issue new \10,000, \5,000 and \1,000 notes adopting sophisticated technologies in fiscal 2004 to beat counterfeiters. It will be the first Bank of Japan (BOJ) note issue since July 2000 when the \2,000 note was issued to commemorate the new century and the holding of the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa. The \2,000 note will remain in circulation. The new \10,000 note will continue to feature Fukuzawa Yukichi, a scholar and educator of the Meiji era (1868-1912), but the pair of pheasants on the back will be replaced with a pair of phoenix statues (designated as national treasures) at Byodoin Temple in Kyoto.

The \5,000 note will carry the portrait of Higuchi Ichiyo, a female novelist and poet of the Meiji era. Mt. Fuji on the reverse side will be replaced by the decorative painting "Kakitsubata" by Ogata Korin (designated as a national treasure), an artist of the Edo period (1603-1867). This will be the first time a woman has appeared on a Japanese bank note. Empress Jingu, who briefly ruled Japan in the early third century, was featured on a note issued by the government in 1881, but this was before the BOJ was created.

The \1,000 note will feature bacteriologist Noguchi Hideyo and the reverse side will feature Mt. Fuji and cherry blossoms.

The three figures were selected from among scores of candidates, mostly men and women of culture, whose pictures are carried in the ...