Many are familiar with the term “Old Money” in reference to people or families that control towns due to the fact that their ancestors had made a lot of money historically and since, their names are pretty much linked with various things and politics around town. I wonder if this would be the case going forward since many countries are changing the “Look” of their currency.

This has happened recently in Japan in response to the various counterfeiting efforts experienced here. I would hate to think so, but it all seems to be occurring in response to an incident a few years back when people were importing Korean coins that were the same size and weight of a Japanese 500 Yen coin (est. $4.50 US). There was an increasing number of these coins begin collected by vending machine operators since the Korean coins were worth something rediculous like maybe 100 Yen (.80 cents). The deal was, put the coin in, buy one drink and collect the change in Yen. SCORE!!!!!

The first thing that happened, was the release of the “new” 500 Yen coin. Now about 3 years later, they have also decided to release new versions of their bills. 1,000 – 5,000 – 10,000 yen bills now have a new look. I have not really though about the images on them, but apparently they are breaking new ground as the 5,000 bill is the first one ever to sport the picture of a woman. Way to go Japan, now if the rest of the society could actually begin to appreciate women then that would be groundbreaking.

As a side note here, I want to add that the Japanese money itself has always been ahead of the game in comparison to that of the US. Take for example the built in features for the blind. That’s right, the blind. Each bill old and new has had a physical print embossed that allows the blind to distinguish between the various types of bills. In the old version this came in the form of dots in one of the bottom corners of the bill. The only way to know they are there is to either hold it up to the light, or to lightly rub your fingers over the corners. In the new version, they have repalced this with vertical or horizontal bars embossed in the bill. I guess that is to let the blind know whether or not they have a new or an old bill, although for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they would care.

Another thing to note about the new bills is that prior to their release, apparently one of them was found in China and was put up for auction and generated an upward bid of about $80,000 US before it was pulled off the web. What a scam. Should have taken the money and run.

There are several other new “features” on the bill that are already in use in other countries, so I won’t go into that now. So where am I going? O.k., here comes the vent. Everyone and their brother knew that the new bills were coming, so do you think the vending manufacturers would prepare? Just put it this way, as I said in a previous post, I had to go to the Ward office to renew my gaijin card. In doing so, I was informed that I needed 2 passport sized photos. Luckily enough there was a machine in the lobby to do just that for only 600 yen. So, I whipped out my new 1,000 yen bill and tried to feed it into the machine before I realized that there was a sticker newly placed on the bill slot informing me that the machine did not accept the new bills. “Oh Wonderful!” Next to the machine was a little snack stand. I’ll just exchange the new one with an old one from the stand.

As soon as I walked in the place the womain knew why I was there and promptly refused to exchange the bill!!! Can you believe that? Why, for what reason? Was this money not yet “Officially” signed off by the snack stand manager? So I had to buy a damn candy bar for 100 yen so that she would take the bill and give me change so I could use it in the photo machine! WHAT THE?!?!?! is really going on?!?!?! I hate the bureaucracy!