Who’s lurking on Japanese banknotes?

In this time of planetary economic crisis of the millennium, we ought to be greedy and talk a bit about money! Curious about who’s on banknotes of Japanese Yen? Besides coins of course, the Japanese use 3 banknotes in daily life for 10000, 5000 and 1000 Yen. These numbers seem a bit shocking for your average gaijin, but it’s not so bad! For example, if we exchange 1000 Yen to U.S. Dollars on today’s date, we get about 10.90 Dollars. That means 10000 Yen would be about 109 dollars.

These banknotes on the pictures below started circulating in 2004. Prior to that they looked a bit different. What all 3 banknotes have in common is the empty white oval that has a watermarked portrait inside (thus, it’s not meant for you to doodle on it or anything of that sort!). The words “Nippon Ginko” on the back side refer to the bank of Japan.

10,000 Yen banknote. On the front is Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901), famous educator from Meiji period who’s regarded as the father of modern Japan. The back side shows the statue of phoenix from Byodoin temple. Dimensions: 16 x 7.7 cm.

5000 Yen banknote. On the front side is a portrait of Japanese novelist and poet Natsu (or Natsuko) Higuchi with a pen name Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896) from the Meiji period. She was only 24 years old when she died from tuberculosis. The back side features a painting of irises by Ogata Korin, a Japanese painter from the Edo period. Dimensions: 15.7 x 7.7 cm.

1000 Yen banknote. The front is decorated with a portrait of Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), a microbiologist, known for his research of yellow fever in Africa. Ultimately he died from the very disease he was trying to cure and his last words were “I don’t understand”. The back side shows the famous view of Mt. Fuji and cherry blossoms. Dimensions: 15 x 7.7 cm.

If you’re familiar with these Japanese banknotes and know some special facts, feel free to add your comment below! :)