Message from the President

Message

Welcome to the website of the National Printing Bureau.

The National Printing Bureau (NPB) assumes a role in supplying products of a highly public nature that are closely related to the lives of the people. These include Bank of Japan notes, which play an important role in the nation’s payment and settlement systems, and the Official Gazette, through which the Japanese government issues official notices regarding laws, regulations and other matters. NPB also prints passports, postage stamps, certificate stamps, revenue stamps and various other types of certificate paper. Since our founding in 1871 as the Paper Money Office (Shiheishi) under the Ministry of Finance, NPB has worked to ensure a stable supply of high-quality products, having celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2021.

Regarding Bank of Japan notes, the Ministry of Finance announced in a press release of April 9, 2019 that the issuance of a new series of banknotes was scheduled for the first half of fiscal 2024 toward strengthening protections against counterfeiting and enhancing the ease of differentiation among denominations through the use of universal design.

The new 2020 series of passports, which have been issued since February 2020, provide improved functionality to prevent the illicit reading and copying of personal information from the integrated circuit (IC) chips in the passports. As a way of bolstering security against counterfeiting, the passport design features images from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji,” one of the most famous series of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and a masterpiece by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai.

NPB’s anti-counterfeiting technologies are also used in postage stamps, certificate stamps, revenue stamps, and other products for which high security and reliability are required from a public viewpoint.

The Official Gazette is issued to ensure the accurate and reliable delivery of important government information. In line with today’s trend of economic and societal digitization, NPB has been endeavoring to enhance and promote the Online Official Gazette Service for even greater reader convenience.

To ensure the smooth functioning of the country’s indispensable social infrastructure, NPB must supply high-quality products and services. The Bureau is also keenly aware of the need to raise public trust in our work by having the public gain a broad informed understanding of our mission, roles, and activities.

Through our efforts to fulfill these commitments and achieve the appropriate performance of our duties, NPB is dedicated to contributing to the further development of Japan’s society and economy.

On behalf of the Bureau, I look forward to your kind understanding and continued support.

OTSU Toshiya
President, National Printing Bureau

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