Seeking out the legacy of the ¥10,000 man
One year ago Japan issued newly designed banknotes, with the old notes remaining legal tender while slowly being phased out.
It is always difficult for authorities to choose whose faces should appear on currency. Particularly noteworthy in 2024 was the face chosen for the 10,000 yen note. It had been philosopher/reformer Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901) for 40 years. The new note features the face of Eiichi Shibusawa (1840-1931), an industrialist widely regarded as the father of the Japan's modern economic system.
Image: https://www.npb.go.jp/en/n_banknote/design10/
Shibusawa is said to have been involved in the establishment of as many as 500 companies during his lifetime. He founded Japan's first modern bank, as well as the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He was also involved in a number of social, community, and diplomatic initiatives. Physical remnants of his legacy can be seen across Tokyo.
Shibusawa Memorial Museum
The Shibusawa Memorial Museum sits inside Asukayama Park, just a few minutes' walk from Oji Station. Shibusawa had a long association with this area, once a village on the outskirts of Tokyo, but now inside the city limits. He founded the Oji Paper Company nearby in 1873 and later had a home on the site that has become Asukayama Park. The home was destroyed by aerial bombing during World War II, but Shibusawa's influence lives on in the Shibusawa Memorial Museum.
A photo montage provides an apt illustration of Shibusawa's impact.
Image: Vicki L Beyer
The museum presents a bilingual timeline of Shibusawa's life and his various achievements, together with several artifacts from his life. The range and extent of his involvement in Japan's modernization/Westernization in the late nineteenth century is astounding.
Two surviving structures from Shibusawa's original home complex are located near the museum and are considered part of the museum. The older of the two is Bankoro, a small cottage he had built in 1917 with a nicely-appointed Western-style meeting used by Shibusawa to meet with Japanese and international visitors.
Seien Bunko is a more modern structure designed as a library and built for Shibusawa by a group of his mentees to commemorate his 85th birthday in 1925. While the building once housed his collection of books, he also used this building predominately to host meetings with visiting dignitaries.
Shibusawa used Seien Bunko to host meetings with visiting dignitaries.
Image: Vicki L Beyer
Also located in Asukayama Park is the Paper Museum, which has some exhibits on Shibusawa's role in modern paper production in Japan.
The Shibusawa Memorial Museum is open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (last entry 4:30 pm); closed on Mondays except those which are public holidays. The museum is open on public holidays and closed on the day after any public holiday. Admission is JPY300 and includes entry to Bankoro and Seien Bunko (except that entry to Bankoro will not be permitted during August due to high heat).
Bankoro is a cottage where Shibusawa often received visitors.
Image: Vicki L Beyer
A ticket providing entry to all three museums in Asukayama Park (ie, Shibusawa Memorial Museum, Paper Museum, and Kita Ward Asukayama Museum) is 800 yen and is valid for a three-month period.
Tosho Shibusawa Museum
Tosho (the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry) also contains a small museum honoring Shibusawa and his role in the chamber's establishment. It is especially interesting to learn how Shibusawa was driven by his desire to establish the credibility of Japan's business community on the international stage.
The Tosho Shibusawa Museum contains various artifacts relating to Shibusawa's role as a driver of modern business practices.
Image: Vicki L Beyer
Located on the sixth floor of Tosho in the Marunouchi Nijubashi Building, just above Nijubashi-mae subway station, the museum is open weekdays, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; admission is free.
President Grant's Trees
Shibusawa was also instrumental in facilitating the 1879 visit to Japan of former U.S. President Ulysses Grant and his wife. He was especially adamant that the former president should plant trees to commemorate the occasion, a previously unknown practice in Japan. Grant planting the trees was intended to symbolize the aspirations of the United States and Japan to have a long-lasting relationship.
In Tokyo, Grant planted a Himalayan Cedar tree in the courtyard to Zojoji Temple near Shiba Park, as well as a cypress tree in Ueno Park. Mrs Grant also planted a magnolia tree in Ueno Park. Even Emperor Meiji attended the event held at Ueno Park when the tree planting took place.
Cedar tree planted by former U.S. president Ulysses Grant on the grounds of Zojoji Temple in Tokyo
Image: Vicki L Beyer
All three trees are alive today. In 1930 Shibusawa became concerned that the trees in Ueno Park were neglected and forgotten, so he arranged for their care and also had a monument erected relating the history of the trees and their connection to the U.S.-Japan relationship. The trees, and the monument, are located near the entrance to the Ueno Zoological Gardens.
Former Shibusawa Home Restored
Shibusawa's home from 1878 to 1888 (and subsequently occupied by his son and family), located in Fukagawa, near Shiomi Station on the Keiyo Line, has been restored to its former glory. The home was originally built by Kisuke Shimizu, founder of the company known today as Shimizu Corporation. When the Shimizu Corporation acquired the land in Fukagawa to build Novare Smart Innovation Ecosystem, it decided to restore Shibusawa's home as a central feature of the complex, commemorating both Shibusawa's life and the accomplishments of the company.
Image: Tatsuya Noaki
The original house was purely Japanese in design, with a Western-style wing added later.
While it is possible to visit the house and view the opulent interior, opening hours are limited to certain Thursdays of the month on a lottery system. To apply, visit https://www.shibusawa-residence.jp/en/tour/.
Bank of Japan Currency Museum
Since Shibusawa's face is on Japan's largest denomination currency, a visit to the Bank of Japan Currency Museum is another must. This free museum, housed inside the Bank of Japan building in Nihonbashi, has extensive exhibits on the history of currency use in Japan, including collections of ancient coins and displays on how early coins were minted.
The Currency Museum has exhibits on Japan's use of money across time.
Image: Vicki L Beyer
Visitors can also heft the weight of a bundle containing 100 million yen and view a bilingual video history of money in Japan. The exhibits are laid out in chronological order, concluding with the introduction of paper money and the history of bill designs over the last century and a half. The hi-tech anti-counterfeiting features of modern bills are also fascinating.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (last entry 4 p.m.), as well as Mondays that are public holidays. Expect to have bags checked before entry to the museum will be permitted.
The museum has a small gift shop with interesting novelty items such as hand towels containing images of currency (in case you want to wipe your face with Shibusawa's face) and chocolates shaped like ancient coins.
Visits to these various places associated with Eiichi Shibusawa give visitors a greater appreciation of Japan's rapid modernization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and the role Shibusawa, and other great men of his generation, played in that development.
Vicki L. Beyer, a regular Japan Today contributor, is a freelance travel writer who also blogs about experiencing Japan. Follow her blog at jigsaw-japan.com.
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