Japanese Annual Celebrations

Japanese Celebrations //

For one of my concept ideas for the money brief, I had the idea of producing banknotes for a specific occasion. This idea stemmed from a project I found on Bēhance that included designs for a banknote for the Winter Olympics.

As I have undergone research into the Asian Tigers, I have then looked into annual celebrations in Asia, Japan to be specific.


Japanese New Year

Sunday, January 1st

Japanese people eat a special selection of dishes during the New Year celebration called osechi-ryōri.

Many of these dishes are sweet, sour, or dried, so they can keep without refrigeration—the culinary traditions date to a time before households had refrigerators.


At midnight on December 31, Buddhist temples all over Japan ring their bells a total of 108 times to symbolise the 108 human sins in Buddhist belief, and to get rid of the 108 worldly desires regarding sense and feeling in every Japanese citizen.

The Japanese new year offers a huge variety of exciting and colourful imagery.

Coming of age day

Coming of Age Day is a Japanese holiday held annually on the second Monday of January. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached the age of majority (20 years old) over the past year, and to help them realise that they have become adults.

Cherry Blossom

The Current Japanese Banknote

The Japanese banknote through time has remained the same for years and years. The design often consists of an iconic figure on top of an intricate pattern. There is also details of iconic Japanese imagery such as cheery blossom and architecture. Using this imagery will allow the banknotes to still remain traditional and cultural whilst at the same time looking modern through the use of typography and digital printing.

My redesigns will give the banknotes a much more modern and refreshed look using colourful and exciting imagery and patterns. 

I will be lino cutting on top of digital print to give the feel of old and new. The imagery I will be using will be influenced by Japan's annual celebrations mentioned above.

I will also be exploring different stocks and materials on to which I will print my images. The feel and weight of the note is important as earlier in my research I gathered that one aspect of physical money that people prefer to digital payment is the feel of it and the physical handing over of a note. 

Most banknotes today are made of cotton, however some currencies have already explored different materials for their banknotes. Australia, for example, have moved to using plastic banknotes as they're water proof and generally more sturdy.