Run on Japanese banks and $1,000 bills

[Taro Toporific]

Depositors scramble amid rumors of bank account freeze
Japan Today > kuchikomi / Monday, August 4, 2003

...a financial consultant tells Shukan Shincho (July 31) there's been a run on safety deposit boxes at banks.
"I inquired at banks in Kojimachi, Akasaka, Toranomon and Ginza," he says. "They told me every single box had been rented out. The situation is the same at bank branches located in residential areas. I thought it a bit strange and asked a bank employee what was going on. He lowered his voice and confided that self-employed people and company owners had been converting their yen to dollars and hoarding them. Some boxes are crammed with thousand dollar bills, the equivalent of 500 million yen."

NOTE this typical fake Japanese news story:
The US government used to print$500 and $1000 bills ... The last of the big money was printed in 1950. Today, a $500 bill could be worth between $550 and $1000 depending on its condition, and a $1000 bill could be worth from $1100 to $2000 depending on its condition.

[Steve Bildermann]

You are absolutely right Taro.

This story is so fucking old it should be retired by now or at least put in the 'bullshit stories of Japan' hall of fame.

I've seen it appear in in one form or another about once every 7-8 years since 1970.

If anyone knows even the slightest thing about the Japanese banking system they know that a so-called govt 'freeze' before a devauation would be impossible to to implement wiith so many Japanese corporations so deeply invested in US treasury bonds that such a move would immediately crash Wall Street.

It must be the heat

[Taro Toporific]

... 'bullshit stories of Japan' hall of fame.
I've seen it appear in in one form or another about once every 7-8 years since 1970.

At the beginning of the Bubble, I had a big client come into my office in a tizzy about the run on banks beacuse they were changing the 10,000 yen note. That super-rich and swarmy-smart client was just sure the end of the J-banking world. He exchanged all his 10,000 yen for $100 bills money into two duffle bags and put in a safe deposit box at a rate of 265yen to $1 USD...and just a "few" years later the dollar was below 150 yen/$1, he, he.

Circa pre-1986? vs today's

...
It must be the heat

Seasonal thoughts on Japan's sweltering summer troubles
Monday, August 4, 2003 / Japan Times
Summer is as much the silly season in Japan as well as elsewhere. Nothing much moves forward and the papers struggle to find suitable topics to comment on...
...others have said that the European Monetary Union is "Even More Unemployment" in disguise. Prime minister J.K., that is to say Junichiro Koizumi, enjoys no such following among seekers of alternative meanings in the names of distinguished people and important things. In a moment of inspiration, however, he has been known to refer to himself as "Pure Ichiro." Indeed the kanji for the "Jun" bit of his first name does actually mean pure.


Does anyone out there have a JPEG of "Pure" Ichiro's G.E.N.K.I. poster now on the streets?

G.E.N.K.I. stands for
Godawful
Engrish
Next
Knowledge
Ineffable