by Björn Schöpe
December 5, 2013 – A Japanese grocery clerk apparently forgot that the banknote with the highest denomination has two zeros less when he accepted a one-million-yen note. Actually the banknote is not even a real forger’s product. A company nearby Osaka produced these sticky notes similar to real banknotes. But their reverse is blank, on the obverse is written ‘Luxury Bank Note’ and, beside the portrait of writer Yukichi Fukuzawa ‘Luxury Yukichi’.
Yukichi features on the genuine 10,000-yen banknote too (Japan’s highest denomination) – but he lacks the smirk in the face. And, above all, its denomination is not of one million yen which corresponds to some 7,200 euros or US$ 9,800!
The company stopped the production of this fake note quite some time ago because yet another time a clerk was fooled by this note. And in Japan it is of course forbidden to bring something in circulation which might confuse customers. What may confuse people becomes clear only after it happened though. The company continued, anyway, to sell the remaining stock of previously produced sticky notes. Until now. Staff of a grocery shop in Morioka-Minami found such a sticky note in a cash register. Apparently a cashier had accepted this note and, as must be feared, gave the change. Police is investigating as it may be a forgery case.
You will find more about this peculiar incident in The Manichi.