The Bank of Japan issues Japanese yen banknotes in four denominations: 1,000 yen, 2,000 yen, 5,000 yen, and 10,000 yen, all printed by Japan's National Printing Bureau. On 3 July 2024 the Bank of Japan released redesigned 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 yen notes, the first full redesign in twenty years, featuring Kitasato Shibasaburo, Tsuda Umeko, and Shibusawa Eiichi, along with what the Bank of Japan describes as the world's first use of three-dimensional holographic portraits on banknotes. The previous 2004 series, featuring Noguchi Hideyo, Higuchi Ichiyo, and Fukuzawa Yukichi, remains valid and circulates alongside the new notes, as does the rarely seen 2,000 yen note first issued in 2000. Older discontinued notes, such as the 500 yen and 100 yen bills, keep their legal-tender status and draw collector interest. Coins, issued separately by the Japan Mint, run from 1 yen to 500 yen.
What Denominations Do Japanese Yen Banknotes Come In?
The Bank of Japan currently issues yen banknotes in four values. Collectors and travelers most often ask about these bills, sometimes searching simply for yen notes or yen denominations:
• 1,000 yen (the smallest banknote in current issue)
• 2,000 yen (legal tender, but rarely seen in daily use)
• 5,000 yen
• 10,000 yen (the highest denomination in circulation)
Anything below 1,000 yen is handled by coins rather than paper. Those coins are produced by the Japan Mint, a separate body from the note-printing National Printing Bureau, and run from 1 yen to 500 yen. For a banknote collector, the working set is therefore the four denominations above, spread across several design series that remain valid at the same time.
What Are the 2024 Series Yen Banknotes?
The current 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000 yen notes entered circulation on 3 July 2024, the first complete redesign of Japan's paper currency in two decades. Each portrait honors a figure from the Meiji and modern eras, paired with a reverse drawn from Japanese art or architecture:
• 1,000 yen: Kitasato Shibasaburo, a pioneer of bacteriology, on the front, with Katsushika Hokusai's woodblock print “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” on the back.
• 5,000 yen: Tsuda Umeko, an educator and advocate for women's higher learning, on the front, with Japanese wisteria on the back.
• 10,000 yen: Shibusawa Eiichi, often called the father of modern Japanese capitalism, on the front, with the red-brick Marunouchi building of Tokyo Station on the back.
The 2024 series is defined as much by its security printing as its portraits. The Bank of Japan lists several features that a collector can inspect by hand:
1. Three-dimensional holographic portraits that appear to turn and face different directions as the note is tilted, described by the Bank of Japan as the first of their kind on any banknote.
2. High-definition watermarks that show the portrait together with a fine background pattern when held to the light.
3. Tactile marks, a set of raised lines that let a note be identified by touch.
4. Enlarged, more legible denomination numerals for easier reading.
The 1,000 yen note in particular has carried several different portraits over the decades. Noteshobby traces that full lineage in its history of the Japanese 1,000 yen banknote.
Which Older Yen Notes Are Still in Circulation?
A common point of confusion is that a new series does not retire the previous one. The 2004 series, known as Series E and first issued on 1 November 2004, remains fully valid and circulates side by side with the 2024 notes:
• 1,000 yen: Noguchi Hideyo, a bacteriologist, on the front, with Mount Fuji and cherry blossoms on the back.
• 5,000 yen: Higuchi Ichiyo, a Meiji-era author, on the front, with an iris painting by Ogata Korin on the back.
• 10,000 yen: Fukuzawa Yukichi, an educator and founder of Keio University, on the front, with the phoenix statue at Byodo-in Temple on the back.
The 2,000 yen note sits apart from the main series. First issued on 19 July 2000, it shows the Shureimon gate on the front and a scene from The Tale of Genji, with a portrait of its author, on the back. The note was released around the time of the summit held in Okinawa in 2000, but it never took hold in everyday transactions and was produced in far smaller numbers than the other denominations. It remains legal tender and is still occasionally handed out, which makes it the denomination most people in Japan rarely see.
Which Historical Yen Banknotes Do Collectors Look For?
Beyond the notes in active issue, several discontinued denominations remain of interest to collectors. According to the Bank of Japan, many older notes keep their legal-tender status even after they are withdrawn from issue, while the oldest small-denomination notes were demonetized decades ago. A collector should confirm any specific note against Bank of Japan records rather than assume every historical bill is still valid.
The bills most often sought include:
• The 500 yen note, showing Iwakura Tomomi with Mount Fuji on the reverse, issued from 1951 and withdrawn from issue by the mid-1990s after the 500 yen coin took over.
• The 100 yen note, showing Itagaki Taisuke, issued from 1953 to 1974.
• The Series D notes of 1984: the 1,000 yen with Natsume Soseki, the 5,000 yen with Nitobe Inazo, and the 10,000 yen with Fukuzawa Yukichi, no longer issued but familiar to anyone who handled Japanese cash in that era.
Condition drives value across all of these. Uncirculated examples, notes with low or radar serial numbers, and clean early-series pieces command the strongest collector premiums. Japanese notes sit within Noteshobby's broader Asia banknotes collection, where series like these can be studied alongside neighboring issuers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Japanese yen banknote denominations are there?
There are four: 1,000 yen, 2,000 yen, 5,000 yen, and 10,000 yen, all issued by the Bank of Japan. The 2,000 yen note remains legal tender but is rarely seen in everyday use, so most people handle only the other three.
Are older Japanese yen banknotes still legal tender?
The 2004 series and the 2,000 yen note remain fully valid and circulate today. According to the Bank of Japan, many older discontinued notes, such as the 500 yen and 100 yen bills, also keep their legal-tender status, though the oldest small-denomination notes were demonetized long ago. Collectors should confirm a specific note's status against Bank of Japan records.
Which Japanese yen note is the rarest in circulation?
The 2,000 yen note. First issued in 2000, it was produced in far smaller numbers and never settled into daily transactions, which makes it the denomination most people in Japan rarely handle.
Conclusion
The four yen denominations carry more than their face value. They trace a line from the reformers of the Meiji era to some of the most advanced security printing in the world, and because several series stay valid at once, a single run of Japanese notes can hold decades of design history in one album. For the collector, that continuity is the appeal: the yen is a living currency whose retired portraits and rare issues remain within reach.
Sources: Bank of Japan; Japan's Ministry of Finance; National Printing Bureau.