Babe banknote!

[Taro Toporific]

Japanese banknote to feature woman for first time to debut in Nov.
(Kyodo) - Jun 15, 8:12 pm----A woman will be featured on a Japanese banknote for the first time when the Finance Ministry introduces new 10,000 yen, 5,000 yen and 1,000 yen bills in November, four months later than originally scheduled, ministry officials said Tuesday...portrait of Meiji-era novelist Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896) for the 5,000 yen bill...The delay was attributed to "difficulties in achieving the right color tone and balance"

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

She is so much better looking than Mrs Philip da Greek

[dimwit]

I still prefer the Cook Islands coins

http://e-goods.cplaza.ne.jp/sanrio/kitty30/coin/index.html

:P

[dimwit]

The question is who should really be on Japanese bank notes?

May sugeestions:

1000 yen - Godzilla

5000 yen -Kitty-chan

10000 yen - Asimo

[Caustic Saint]

Nah, Gojira should be on the 10,000, since he's the big, bad mofo.

That said, the Cook Islands coins look pretty well-made. I wonder if the color wouldn't rub off. Colored coins would be a cool change of pace. (Though I can't imagine there's too much counterfeiting of coins going on to make such a thing necessary.)

[Taro Toporific]

My suggestions:
1000 yen - Godzilla

Via http://www.user.fast.net/~nisk/nisk/gamera.html

[Taro Toporific]

Gimmickry comes back to Japan
William Pesek Jr. Bloomberg
Monday, June 21, 2004---- A friend who lived in Japan until late 2002 returned to Tokyo to stories that the government hopes new banknotes will spark the economy - something that has already been tried and didn't work. "Jeez, did I ever leave?" he joked.
Trouble is, Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki was dead serious when he said churning out redesigned banknotes would "have an impact" on the world's No.2 economy. "I hope it will help overcome deflation," Tanigaki said ...It's just the latest incarnation of Japan's affinity for what might be termed "gimmick economics." Policy makers here can be enterprising when it comes to avoiding painful, sweeping structural reforms. Instead, they come up with a bewildering array of policy bandages - many of which are little more than gimmicky.
Take the introduction of ¥2,000 bills in 2000. Heralded as a way to excite consumers and spur spending, the notes had the opposite effect. People saw the brightly colored bills as good-luck charms and hoarded them. It's hard to keep a straight face while seeing Japan go down this road again. Central banks printing money lifts economies; superficial artwork changes on currency don't.
Japan routinely uses gimmicks to sell government bonds, too. It relies on the come-hither looks of heartthrob actors and fashion models in ad campaigns. The nation's versions of Bond Girls - and Bond Boys - help Japan sell debt as a means to avoid restructuring the economy.....

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: New notes designed to beat counterfeiters

Local governments, the Bank of Japan and several companies are making the final preparations for the debut on Nov. 1 of new currency notes that include the first in 20 years to have been completely redesigned.

...To cope with the new notes, last fiscal year's shipment of automatic vending machines nationwide increased for the first time in five years.

Suntory Ltd., which operates 410,000 automatic vending machines containing soft drinks, plans to modify 70,000 of them by November, while East Japan Railway Co. also plans to modify 4,000 of its ticket vending machines--about 60 percent of its total--by November.

An official of Glory Ltd., one of the leading makers of money-handling equipment, said, "Even though we predicted that most companies would only modify their machines, many have replaced all their machines."

...Currently, a rumor that current notes will not be able to be used in and after November is circulating via the Internet.

Another rumor held that the government would freeze bank deposits when the new notes entered into circulation to write off its huge fiscal deficit.

Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui said, "Current notes will continue to be valid after the new notes have been introduced."

The central bank said it expected the current notes to remain in circulation for the next two years or so, adding that the notes will be usable afterward for an unlimited time.

The rumors were partly caused by the rapid expansion of Internet communities and people's anxiety about the huge fiscal deficit.

BOJ Website: The Introduction of New Series Bank of Japan Notes

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

It's probably bad form to post three times consecutively, however...

AP via Yahoo: New Notes Could Impact Japan's Underground
TOKYO (AP) -- When Japan's central bank puts new bank notes into circulation next month, it could draw out cash hoarded away in the country's underground economy, and into investments like gold and real estate.
..."It will become increasingly awkward to use the old notes as the new ones become more common, providing a catalyst for the spillover of money from the underground economy into the real economy," says economist Takehiro Sato of Morgan Stanley.
...Takashi Kadokura, senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute who has written books on Japan's underground economy, puts the value of hoarded cash in the April-June quarter at 5 trillion yen (US$46 billion; euro 37 billion). Morgan Stanley's Sato says it was at least 17 trillion yen (US$156 billion; euro 125 billion).

[dimwit]

If Japan wants it currency to be respected they should try to pick people with normal hair. I mean Snake Lady on the 5000 yen and Nose-picking Poindexter on the 1000 yen, come on.