10 000 Yen

Japan's postwar recovery had reached a point by 1958 where a high-denomination note of this size was both practical and symbolically significant — the economy had surpassed its prewar peak just two years earlier. The National Printing Bureau, which had been producing Japanese currency almost continuously since the Meiji period, printed this series domestically throughout its entire run, an unusual degree of self-sufficiency for a country that had outsourced some earlier wartime production.

The series ran an exceptionally long 28 years before replacement, a span that reflects how stable Japanese consumer prices remained through much of the high-growth period. Wear patterns on circulated examples tend to concentrate heavily along vertical fold lines — this note was routinely carried folded in thirds inside traditional Japanese wallets.