Woman’s touch: A new 5000-yen banknote

Tokyo, June 21: The traditionalist establishment in Japan has taken a small step into the 21st century by placing a woman on a banknote for the first time.

The new 5,000-yen (£25) note will feature Ichiyo Higuchi, a novelist of the late 1800s who is widely regarded as modern Japan’s first influential female author. She was born in 1872 and wrote about the social problems that women of her time faced. She died in 1896.

As well as the blue-grey 5,000-yen note, a dark-blue 1,000-yen and a brown 10,000-yen bill will go into circulation. Their issue has been delayed for four months because of problems with the portrait of Higuchi and the colour tones on some of the notes.