Japan to introduce series of redesigned banknotes

Source: Xinhua| 2019-04-09 12:28:59|Editor: Liu
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TOKYO, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Japan plans to introduce a series of new banknotes featuring new designs and incorporating next-generation anti-counterfeiting technology, the government said Tuesday.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso said that three different banknotes will be revamped, with the update marking the first change since 2004.

According to Aso, the new 10,000 yen bill will feature industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa. He is known as "the father of Japanese capitalism", and also founded Japan's first modern bank that is known now as Mizuho Bank.

The new 5,000 yen bill will carry an image of Umeko Tsuda, an educator in Japan known for advancing female education. Tsuda, a Christian, established the Tsuda University in Tokyo, as it's currently known.

The new 1,000 yen bill, meanwhile, will feature bacteriologist and physician Shibasaburo Kitasato. Kitasato helped find a method to prevent diphtheria and tetanus and co-discovered the infectious agent of the bubonic plague.

He was was nominated for the first annual Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1901.

The new banknotes will replace the images on the current notes of Yukichi Fukuzawa, Ichiyo Higuchi, and Hideyo Noguchi.

The government said it will maintain the current 2,000 yen bill in circulation but will revamp the 500 yen coin.

The government's latest decision to issue new banknotes coincides with the beginning of the new Imperial era, Reiwa.

The new era will begin on May 1 when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the throne. The new banknotes are expected to enter into circulation a few years after that.

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