Tokyo: The year-end balance of bank notes in circulation in Japan is estimated at 124,077.8bil yen in 2024, falling for the second straight year, according to Bank of Japan data.
A stack of 10,000-yen bills equivalent to the value would be 1,240km high, about 328 times higher than 3,776m Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in the country.
The balance of bank notes in circulation is the total value of bank notes held at homes, in corporate vaults and elsewhere.
The drop resulted from people increasingly opting for cashless payments although the country’s new bank notes attracted demand since their introduction in July 2024.
The year-end balance declined in 2023 for the first time in 14 years amid the growing spread of cashless payment services. — The Japan News/ANN
