10,000 yen note
The 10,000 yen note (1万円紙幣 "1Man-en shihei") is the largest banknote denomination of the Japanese yen. The front side of the 10,000 yen note includes a portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa, a Meiji era philosopher and the founder of Keio University. The back of the note shows a drawing of the Hōō (, Fenghuang) in the Hall of the Phoenix, Byōdō-in.
Postal savings system
Japan Post Bank, part of the post office was the world's largest savings bank with 198 trillion yen (US$1.7 trillion) of deposits as of 2006, much from conservative, risk-averse citizens. The government was criticized for using these funds to engage in uneconomical infrastructure projects—what in America would be called pork barrel spending. The state-owned Japan Post Bank business unit of Japan Post was formed in 2007, as part of a ten-year privatization programme, intended to achieve fully private ownership of the postal system by 2017.