![How Japan’s newest yen note came from the Nepali mountains](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/gettyimages-2157787517-restricted.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill)
How Japan’s newest yen note came from the Nepali mountains
CNN
Banks across Japan began stocking their ATMs on Wednesday with shiny new yen notes sourced from an unlikely location – vibrant yellow flowering paperbush shrubs that grow on craggy Himalayan mountains in Nepal.
Banks across Japan began stocking their ATMs on Wednesday with shiny new yen notes sourced from an unlikely location – vibrant yellow flowering paperbush shrubs that grow on craggy Himalayan mountains in Nepal. Before entering the wallets of Japanese consumers, the yen notes had a long, complex journey involving months of labor and transport by land and air across thousands of kilometers. And this process has provided a potential new source of income to communities in one of the world’s poorest countries, by providing cash for one of its richest. Though Japan has pushed for more digital payments in recent years, cash still reigns king, and it trails behind other Asian countries like China that have gone almost completely cashless. “I really think that Nepal contributed to Japan’s economy, as cash is fundamental to the Japanese economy,” said Tadashi Matsubara, president of Kanpou, the company that produces paper for the Japanese government. “Without Nepal, Japan would not function.”