OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

Saturday, November 06, 2004

NEW BILLS

Now we have new 1,000-yen, 5,000-yen and 10,000-yen bills. For the past couple of days, our greeting always included “Have you seen the new bills yet?” So far I have new 1,000-yen and 5,000-yen bills at hand, but no 10,000-yen yet. It’s so funny that the new ones do not look like real money to me, but I'm sure I’ll get used to them pretty soon.

I was surprised that Ichiyo Higuchi was chosen to be the first Japanese female to be on the yen. She is the first Japanese female writer (professional), and I like her novels very much, but never expected her to be on 5,000-yen while the author of “The Tale of Genji” is on the back of 2,000-yen bill. I wonder who is in charge of deciding who should be on which note.
posted by obachan, 11/06/2004 09:52:00 PM

2 Comments:

Oh, I didn't know that Murasaki Shikibu was on the back of the 2,000-yen bill. I seldom have that bill. Thinking it rather inconvenient, my wife spends it as soon as she gets it. But why do they say that Ichiyo Higuchi is the first women on Japanese bills? Is it that appearance on the backside is not counted?
commented by Blogger Tatsuo Tabata, 11/07/2004 1:51 PM  
I suppose that’s what they think.
commented by Blogger obachan, 11/07/2004 8:22 PM  

Add a comment