Matthew Patay's
Note of the Month
November 2002


Map and flag images provided by Graphic Maps
This month's featured note
is from Japan.
The denomination is 5,000 Yen and the Standard Catalog of World Paper Money
(SCWPM) Number is P-101b.
The note is not dated, but was issued in (1993).
(obverse)
The banknote is brown and purple on multicolored under print.
Inazo Nitobe (1862 - 1933) is at right.
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The following information
was obtained from:
Nitobe Memorial Museum
Homepage
Inazo Nitobe
(1862 - 1933)
Inazo Nitobe was born in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, in 1862 (Bunkyu 2), as the
third son of Jujiro Nitobe. As a boy of seven, he was adopted by his uncle
Tokitoshi Ohta and went to live with his uncle in Tokyo. After graduating
from Sapporo Agriculture School, he continued his studies in America and
Germany. On his return to Japan, Dr. Nitobe held various positions in education,
including professor at Tokyo and Kyoto Teikoku University and principal of
Daiichi Kotogakkou, and taught many students who became leaders in Japanese
society. In 1911 (Meiji 44), he toured the United States as the first exchange
professor from Japan, lecturing at six universities. In Japan, he struggled to
make up for Japan's late start in the education of women and devoted much energy
to the establishment of the Tokyo Women's University, becoming its first
president in 1918 (Taisho 7).
Present when the League of Nations was established in 1920 (Taisho 9), he stayed
in Geneva as its Assistant Director General, retiring from that post in 1926. He
also worked as Japan's Chief Director to the Institute of Pacific Relations, and
devoted his life to peace. In 1933 (Showa 8), he attended the Pacific Conference
in Banff, Canada, as Japan's representative. But illness struck, and he died on
October 15th. In 1984 (Showa 59), Japan placed his image on its 5,000 yen
bill in honor of his contributions to the country.
Publications: Bushido - the Soul of Japan (1900), Nougyou Honron (1899), Shuuyou
(1911), and Yowatari no Michi (1912)
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(reverse)
Fuji-San (Mount Fuji or Fujiyama) is at center.
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The following
information was obtained from:
Hakone - Home Page
The Fuji Volcano is the highest in Japan, rising 3776 m above sea level in the form of a typical cone about 50 km across the base. At the summit of the volcano is a circular crater about 500 m across and as much as 250 m deep below the highest point (35o21'N, 138o43'E). The upper half of the volcano is all in white color in winter, small patches of permanent icy snow left on the shady slopes in and about the summit crater are usually seen even in midsummer. But any traces of past glaciation are found nowhere on the volcano. The reason is nothing but the fact that the volcano is virtually covered almost everywhere with lava-flows and pyroclastics ejected by the volcanic eruptions that have occurred since the end of the last period of the Quaternary Ice Age.
The simple conical outline of Mt. Fuji belies its complex history of growth. Instead of being a single structure, the volcano is actually a group of superposed cones. Fuji Volcano consists of three different volcanoes; Komitake, Ko-Fuji (Older Fuji Volcano) and the present Fuji (Younger Fuji Volcano) which lie one upon the other. In addition, the volcano is studded with parasitic cones and flank openings amounting collectively more than one hundred although most of them are too small to be unsightly excrescences in the landscape of the host mountain.
(Originally written by H. Tsuya)
The following
information was obtained from:
Japan-Guide.Com
Mount Fuji is located in
Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures and can be seen from Tokyo and Yokohama by
clear weather. Travelers on the Tokaido route (Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka) closely pass
by Mount Fuji.
The climbing of Mt.Fuji is possible via several routes. Climbers usually ascend
the mountain on the first day, stay overnight at one of several huts near the
crater, and descend on the following day.
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