Official
First visit to the Bank of Japan
On March 19, 2024, the Bank of Japan lifted its negative interest rate policy (to be introduced in January 2016) and decided to raise interest rates. This is the first increase in interest rates in about 17 years since February 2007. Nevertheless, the yen plunged against the dollar in the morning of April 29. The lowest price for the first time in about 34 years since April 1990, hit the 160-yen level. But it rebounded suddenly in the afternoon. At one time, the increase was intermittently widened to the 154 yen range. Maybe there was a foreign exchange intervention. I am very concerned about the movement of the Bank of Japan today.
So the other day, I participated in a tour of the Bank of Japan's main store (free, advance reservation system, about 60 minutes). The main building, which is a nationally designated important cultural property, was guided with a guide commentary.
The main building of the Bank of Japan's head office was completed in 1896. It is said that Kingo Tatsuno, one of Japan's first architects, designed it with reference to the Belgian National Bank. When I entered from the west gate of the visitor entrance (left photo), there was a courtyard, and I was able to see the massive front entrance (right photo).
After watching a video of about 5 minutes on the first floor, we moved to the second floor, which was originally an officer floor. There, portraits of successive governors of the Bank of Japan were displayed, and materials related to the history of the Bank were displayed (unfortunately, photography is prohibited on the second floor). Then move to the first basement floor and go to the former underground safe. It was not possible to take a safe from outside, but I was able to take a picture freely in the safe (upper photo).
After returning from the second floor to the first floor, after listening to the guide's commentary in the space where it was a guesthouse (above photo), the tour ended. I understand that the main building of the Bank's head office is functioning as a museum related to central banks in Japan.
The Bank of Japan's head office tour is very popular. Reservations are to be accepted from 90 days before the desired date to 5 days in principle, but it seems that most reservation slots will be filled in one or two weeks from the reception start date. Click here for more information.
Incidentally, the "Mont Museum (2nd floor of the Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies)" located opposite the main building of the Bank of Japan head office is free of charge. The biggest highlight is the thousand boxes (left photo) where you can experience the actual weight (1,000 pieces of Keicho era oval and about 20 kg of box weight). I was also able to experience the weight of 100 million yen (right photo) of 10,000 yen bills of 10,000 yen. Click here for more information.