2, 01. 2005
After a spate of discoveries of counterfeit notes modeled after the old 10,000 yen bills erupted across Japan, the Bank of Japan announced on January 14 that it would speed up its bill replacement program by ceasing to distribute old-model banknotes to commercial banks beginning January 17. Fake 10,000 yen bills had been used not only at Japanese temples and shrines, busy over the New Year holidays with worshippers, but were also discovered at a casino in South Korea. Behind the forgeries is the proliferation of sophisticated printers that has made the counterfeiting of old-model notes easy.
