Message From The President

Message

The National Printing Bureau is entrusted with the role of manufacturing products of a highly public nature on an exclusive basis, including Bank of Japan notes, which play an important role in the Japanese payment and settlement systems, and the Official Gazette, through which the Japanese government issues official notices about laws, regulations and other issues. These products can be said to be an integral part of the basic infrastructure that supports the national economy (e.g. financial and legal infrastructure).

For more than 140 years since the National Printing Bureau was founded in 1871 as the Paper Money Office (Shiheishi), the Bureau has been making untiring efforts to win the trust of people through ensuring a stable supply of high-quality products for the public in response to social and economic needs of the times.

During its first years at the dawn of the Meiji era, the Bureau of course worked to meet the challenge of catching up with its counterparts in Western countries in terms of printing and papermaking technologies. The Bureau employed foreign engineers and dispatched staff to the printing bureaus of foreign governments to obtain advanced printing technologies

proactively from Germany, Italy, the United States and other countries, while independently developing highly durable banknote paper using Mitsumata (Edgeworthia chrysantha or Oriental paperbush), a plant used for making traditional Japanese paper. By around 1890, as a result of implementing these measures, the Bureau had acquired then first-class technologies for the manufacture of banknotes.
During the period of recovery from World War II and the subsequent high economic growth period, the Bureau increased the production amount in response to a substantial increase in demand for banknotes fueled by Japan's economic growth, while also continuing to enhance its R&D abilities to produce Bank of Japan notes with the world's most advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies.

At present, Japan has the far lowest detection ratio of counterfeited banknotes among major countries and regions, and Bank of Japan notes fundamentally support the healthy "circulation of blood" in the Japanese economy, because they are not easily counterfeited for the following three reasons.

First, Bank of Japan notes are manufactured using highly advanced anti-counterfeiting technologies, which the National Printing Bureau has uniquely developed for exclusive use in the notes. Anti-counterfeiting technologies tend to lose their effectiveness as they are adopted more widely and used more widely, while the anti-counterfeiting technologies used in Bank of Japan notes are incomparable to any other technologies adopted in the world in terms of their uniqueness and exclusivity.

Second, Bank of Japan notes are manufactured and issued with high homogeneity. It is true that nothing can be manufactured without variations. Excessive variations between individual banknotes, however, could weaken society's ability to discern counterfeit banknotes, because people might more probably accept counterfeit banknotes, mistaking them for variants of authentic banknotes. In this regard, the National Printing Bureau has the world's best quality management ability.

Third, the environment in which Bank of Japan notes are circulated helps prevent counterfeiting. Japan is one of the most advanced countries in terms of the machine processing of banknotes, and generally speaking, Bank of Japan notes are processed by ATMs, vending machines and various other automatic cash handling machines more frequently than any other banknotes used in the world. These automatic machines are equipped with functions to detect counterfeit notes, though the level of precision varies between them, and banknotes are checked for their authenticity every time they pass through the machines. Moreover, it should be noted that Bank of Japan notes are circulated among Japanese people, who have high levels of intelligence and are nurtured by sensitive culture. Exquisite sensibility of Japanese people detects counterfeit notes instantly and removes them.

Thanks to the interaction of the aforementioned three factors, people can use Bank of Japan notes with ease of mind and without concern. We will continue to dedicate ourselves to developing and manufacturing high-quality banknotes in a manner suitable for the Japanese banknote circulation environment.

As for the Official Gazette, since its first issue in 1883, Japanese laws and ordinances have been promulgated through it to the present, and the Gazette has been duly fulfilling its role supporting the legal infrastructure of Japan.

Moreover in November 1999, in response to further digitization of the economy and society, we launched the Online Official Gazette Service to provide readers of the Gazette with greater convenience. Subsequently in September 2001, we also started the Official Gazette Search Service (a charged service), and these services are widely used by citizens. We will continue to improve such services in cooperation with the related governmental agencies, such as the Cabinet Office.

Bank of Japan notes, the Official Gazette and other products manufactured by the National Printing Bureau are all essential elements of the basic infrastructure that is indispensable for people's lives. In order to ensure appropriate and smooth functioning of the infrastructure, the National Printing Bureau must continue to manufacture and supply high-quality products with high precision by using leading-edge technologies as its primary requirement. In addition, as another requirement to be met by the Bureau, we are highly aware of the importance of helping a greater number of citizens deepen their understanding of our products and organization so that we can win their trust and contribute to increasing the trustworthiness of the basic infrastructure. We understand that the National Printing Bureau cannot contribute to the maintenance of society's ability to prevent counterfeiting and the legal stability of the country without gaining the confidence of people in the Bureau itself.

We at the National Printing Bureau will continue to make strenuous efforts to meet the aforementioned two requirements and fulfill our mission in an appropriate manner, so that we can make further contributions to the development of the national economy.

In consideration of the various forms of support National Printing Bureau received from other countries at the beginning of its history and the increasing globalization of technical development, we consider technical cooperation and information exchange with overseas security printers important. We also aim to devote resources to this field.

Finally on behalf of the Bureau, I would like to ask for your kind understanding and continued support.

Hiroyuki Ujikane
President of the National Printing Bureau