Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki unveiled a sample of the new 5,000 yen bill Thursday after fixing design problems that had caused a delay.
The 5,000 yen bill, featuring a portrait of novelist and poet Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896), will be printed from August.
It and the new 1,000 yen and 10,000 yen bills will enter into circulation in November to replace the current bank notes. They were initially scheduled to be introduced in July.
The government began printing the new 1,000 yen and 10,000 yen bills last year. A total 2.15 billion notes were produced by the end of March and are stored at the Bank of Japan.
The new 1,000 yen bill features microbiologist Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), who dedicated his life to researching infectious diseases. The new 10,000 yen bill continues to bear the portrait of Fukuzawa Yukichi (1834-1901), a philosopher and educator.
