Japan's New Banknotes Officially Go to Print, Packed with Cutting-Edge Tech

According to Japanese media reports, Japan's new banknotes, which are planned to enter circulation starting in 2024, officially began printing on September 1 at the National Printing Bureau's Tokyo plant.

This is the first change to Japanese banknote designs since 2004, and on that day the actual new 10,000-yen note was shown to the public for the first time.

The new 10,000-yen note uses the portrait of Eiichi Shibusawa, an entrepreneur known as the father of Japanese capitalism, and is the world's first banknote to use 3D image rotating hologram technology.

This technology appearing on banknotes is hard even to imagine—a veritable piece of "black technology"!

With the 3D holographic projection used, the entire head of the portrait appears on the banknote. In other words, this 3D technology lets us see not only the face of the portrait but even the side of the head!

As shown in the figure, for example in this image, a 3D holographic technology visible from the front and the side

In addition, this new banknote also prints the denomination 10000 larger, maximizing the Arabic numerals and replacing the Japanese kanji that indicate the denomination value, so that people with poor eyesight can know the value of the note even by touch.

It also makes it easier for foreigners from countries outside the kanji cultural sphere to identify yen amounts, going along with the trend of internationalization.

The designs changed this time are the 10,000-yen, 5,000-yen and 1,000-yen notes; the 2,000-yen note, which circulates in relatively small quantities, is unchanged.

The new 10,000-yen note uses the portrait of the industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa, known as the "father of Japanese capitalism."

Eiichi Shibusawa was a great industrialist of Japan's Meiji and Taisho periods. He holds titles such as "father of Japanese enterprise," "king of Japanese finance," "guide of Japan's modern economy," "father of Japanese capitalism" and "father of Japan's modern industrial world."

The new 5,000-yen note features Tsuda Umeko, founder of Tsuda University.

Tsuda Umeko was a pioneer of women's education in Japan's Meiji and Taisho periods and the founder of Tsuda University. She never married and devoted her whole heart to women's higher education, bringing reform to women's status in society.

The new 1,000-yen note features Kitasato Shibasaburo, the Japanese bacteriologist and immunologist who established serum therapy.

Baron Kitasato Shibasaburo was a Japanese physician and a famous Japanese bacteriologist and immunologist. He opened up the new scientific field of serology for Japan.

Among them, the portrait on the front of the 10,000-yen note is being changed for the first time in 40 years, since it changed from Prince Shotoku to Fukuzawa Yukichi in 1984.

The back of the 10,000-yen note also changes from the phoenix to the Marunouchi Station Building of Tokyo Station; the back of the 5,000-yen note changes from irises to wisteria flowers; and the back of the 1,000-yen note changes from Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms to "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," a representative work from Katsushika Hokusai's "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji."

In addition, Japan will also issue a new 500-yen coin in 2021.

To prevent counterfeiting, Japanese banknote designs are changed about once every 20 years. The portraits on this new series of banknotes are three-dimensional images reproduced using holographic technology. At the same time, to make them easier for people of all ages to use, the concept of "universal design" has also been introduced.

But as soon as news of the new banknotes came out, Japanese netizens seemed dissatisfied with the new designs, complaining that the new banknotes are too ugly. They even took matters into their own hands and modified the portraits to their own liking.

Netizen @bokoyai turned the 1,000-yen note into a 2,000-yen note featuring a cat—brimming with cuteness and super good-looking!

Another Japanese designer, @PonkichiM, said on Twitter: I saw someone say it would be nice if there were a Shiba Inu banknote, so I tried drawing one—what a super healing banknote!

As for the new Japanese banknotes, do you think they look good?

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378251.html