New Japanese banknotes

Hi

The new banknotes will be released in july 2024. What will happen with the current banknotes ? Could we still use the old notes?

I plan to visit Japan in Jan 2025. I learnt that we can cash it at a bank. However, I am not Japanese. Is this possible for me to do so? Or just simply can I use the old notes to pay bills?

Can continue to use the old bills

This came up a couple of months ago. Short answer, all notes since around 1948 are still valid and legal tender. However, for those really old ones, they probably have more value as collectors items these days.
Going between the different series, sometimes you wouldn't even notice. One thing that did cause some problems was the introduction of the new 500 yen coin as some machines could not read them properly (I struck that last year a couple of times).

You don't have to be Japanese to exchange old Japanese notes to new ones in Japan. But you can use old ones anyway.

In Japan, using old banknotes is not prohibited even after new banknotes are issued. So you can use your bills of older version anytime without any problems.
Last year I was lucky (?) to receive an old version of the 1,000 yen bill in change.

It works the same as in any country when they update a bill

@Gregalor - no, that is not the case. In places that I am aware of, old notes become worthless and are no longer legal tender. I had that happen a few years back when trying to use currency from a previous trip - the smaller notes I had (about US20 worth) had been rendered coloured pieces of paper and unusable.

As a minor correction to my earlier post I had the date slightly wrong. It should have referred to 1946 (covers notes of 1 to 500 yen from 1946 to the 1980s, these continue to be valid).

I agree with JapanCustomTours, and in many countries, you can go to a bank to have old currencies exchanged to new ones. That's probably what the OP was concerned about.

Another thing is that when currencies become about three decades old (which can happen to elderly travelers like me), the younger shopkeepers wouldn't be able to notice them.

The biggest concern about using cash in Japan, however, would be the vending machines, and there are indeed many. To avoid problems, we residents try to keep a few updated 1000 yen notes in hand.

Thank you so much for your answer.
I have just exchanged a few notes and got the news. I am so released when having your answers.
I will try to get some new notes by the time I travel.

Billion thanks!