Announcement of new banknote portraits prompts surprise, joy

April 9, 2019

Tokyo--People with connections to the new faces chosen for Japanese paper money set to be redesigned expressed surprise and joy after the government announced the planned banknote renovation on Tuesday.

The new 10,000-yen bill will have a portrait of industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa, while a picture of Umeko Tsuda, a famed educator for women, will be on the new 5,000-yen bill, according to the Finance Ministry. The new 1,000-yen bill will be an image of bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato. The redesigned notes will be circulated from the first half of fiscal 2024.

The city of Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture, eastern Japan, the birthplace of Shibusawa, updated its website and posted details of the new banknote designs announced by the ministry.

The website noted that some of the bricks used for Tokyo Station's Marunouchi district side building, which will be printed on the reverse of the new 10,000-yen bill, were made by a company established by Shibusawa.

"Shibusawa was in Fukaya until the age of 23, and he continued to visit local festivals after he left the prefecture," Kazumi Kokubo, 73, who works as a volunteer in Fukaya, said. "I want many people to know about his achievements and visit Fukaya," Kokubo said.

Students at Tsuda University, a women's university in Tokyo, whose predecessor was Joshi Eigaku Juku, established by Tsuda in 1900, were also thrilled by the news.

"I was surprised to know that the founder of the university I just entered will be featured on the new 5,000-yen bill," said a first-year student at the school's Department of English.

"It's a great university, and I hope the news will help many people know about the school," she said.

A second-year student at the same department also expressed joy while noting, "The changes in the designs of the banknotes that I've been used to since I was born are surprising enough."

A third-year student at the university's Department of International and Cultural Studies, said, "I think her efforts to promote education for women were recognized by the government."

Kitasato was born in what is now the town of Oguni, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

"I'm proud that a person who was born here will be featured on a banknote," said Oguni Mayor Kosuke Kitazato, 50, who is a distant relative of Kitasato.

"This will be a good opportunity to spread knowledge about the achievements of Kitasato," he said.

Referring to the fact that the current 1,000-yen bill features Hideyo Noguchi, also a bacteriologist, the mayor pointed out that Noguchi was a student at a research institute headed by Kitasato. "That's quite a story," Kitazato said. Jiji Press