General News

Printing Process for Japan’s New Banknotes Revealed to Press Ahead of Launch; 3D Hologram Aims to Tackle Counterfeiting

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:17 JST, June 20, 2024

Yomiuri Shimbun photos
Top: A 3D hologram of the new ¥10,000 bill with the portrait of Eiichi Shibusawa
Bottom: The new ¥10,000 bill with a 3D hologram

Ahead of the issuing of new banknotes on July 3, the National Printing Bureau showed the manufacturing process to the press on Wednesday, at its plant in Kita Ward, Tokyo.

The new banknotes have a 3D hologram as part of efforts to prevent counterfeiting. A total of 20 banknotes were printed on large-format paper, and a special machine applied the hologram. The paper was then stacked into hundreds of sheets and cut with a machine.

The portrait on the new ¥10,000 bill will be that of Eiichi Shibusawa, the industrialist known as the “father of Japanese capitalism,” and the ¥5,000 bill will feature Umeko Tsuda, founder of Tsuda College, now Tsuda University. The face of the ¥1,000 bill will be bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasato.

A Finance Ministry official stated that current banknotes will still be valid, warning that fraudsters may say that older notes will become unusable.