Japan to Put New Bank Notes into Circulation Wed.

Tokyo, July 2 (Jiji Press)--Japan will put redesigned new bank notes into circulation for the first time in 20 years Wednesday.

The new 10,000-yen note carries a portrait of Eiichi Shibusawa, one of the country's most prominent businessmen in the modern era. A portrait of Umeko Tsuda, who founded the current Tsuda University, appears on the new 5,000-yen note and that of Shibasaburo Kitasato, a bacteriologist who discovered the plague bacillus, on the new 1,000-yen note.

The new bills feature such cutting-edge measures against counterfeiting as 3D hologram technology, which is employed for bank notes for the first time in the world.

The technology makes a portrait move in three dimensions when a bill is tilted. In addition, a fine pattern of diamonds is put in the background of the watermark part of a bill to make it difficult to forge.

Also, a special raised print technology is used to make it easier for sight-impaired people to identify bills by touching them.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]