Opinion

Bank Notes and Economic Recovery

By DAVID ZOPPETTI

The ¥2,000 bill recently put into circulation is the first new bank note Japan has seen in 42 years. By now, most of you must be familiar with the drawings adorning both sides of it.

The big piece of architecture on one side is the Shureimon gate to the Shurijo castle in Naha, Okinawa which became (relatively) famous during the few days the Group of Eight summit lasted in July. The other side shows the face of Lady Murasaki Shikibu, author of the famous "Tales of Genji", as well as one of the scenes of the tale reproduced from one of the numerous scrolls illustrating the story.

As a former student of Japanese literature, I couldn't help being curious about the contents of this scene and a rather "juicy" story rewarded my (rather easy) research. Indeed, the scene shows Prince Genji facing a young boy called Reizei-In, born from one of the many romantic and illegitimate liaisons the Prince had with the high ranking ladies of the Heian court. Funny that such a drawing should be selected for the millennium bill, isn't it ?

The instigator of this ¥2,000 bill was the late Prime Minister Obuchi, the main idea being to have something special to commemorate both the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa and the year 2000. But one hopes there was some deeper economic vision behind this.

The monetary system in Japan is characterized by the fact that both its coins and bank notes, starting with the one yen coin and ending with the 10,000 bank note, all begin with the figure "one" or "five." Now (whether this is merely psychological or there is actually some concrete economic principle supporting it), it seems that generally speaking bank notes starting with "two's" stimulate a better flow and circulation of cash. This is the reason why there are 20 dollar bills in the U.S., 20 and 200 franc notes in both France and Switzerland and 20 pound notes in the United Kingdom, just to name a few....

Some are trying to use this new bill to stimulate individual consumption. Major department stores are having special "¥2,000" retail sales or are offering the popular fuku bukuro "surprise bags" for ¥2,000. Some fancy restaurants also have special "¥2,000all-you-can-eat menus."

But frankly speaking, the new bill is stirring very little interest and is trailing a number of problems in its wake. As I write these lines, it is still uncertain when the banks' Automated Teller Machines (ATM) will be able to cope with it. You also won't be able to use ¥2,000 bills at your post office ATM, nor will you be able to use them to buy train tickets from machines in stations until the end of the year or the beginning of next year. As far as buying drinks or cigarettes from vending machines, you can probably forget about it entirely as the industry clearly stated it wouldn't transform its machines to meet the new needs.

So although it is somehow exciting to have a new bank note in one's hand, I feel that the government should be tackling more important issues to put the country back on the tracks of economic recovery instead of fooling around with trifling things like commemorative bank notes.

Shukan ST: Aug. 11, 2000

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