The Bank of Japan on Wednesday began distributing 2,000 yen bank notes, the country's first new bill in 42 years, to financial institutions at its head office in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district.
On Wednesday alone, the central bank plans to issue some 110 million of the notes through its head and branch offices throughout Japan, with 1 billion notes scheduled to be in circulation by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends next March.
An additional 160 million bills will be issued early next month.