With less than five months left until the new banknotes are issued in July, restaurants and other establishments are under pressure to update their ticket vending machines. Updates are said to cost more than 1 million yen per unit in many cases, and private businesses, which are already facing soaring raw material prices, complain that the burden is too heavy. As a countermeasure, Tokyo’s Katsushika Ward, which has many small shops, has begun offering subsidies for renewal costs, a rarity even in Japan. (Kenta Kato)
◆Although we are already suffering due to rising prices
“It’s hard to pay 1 million yen all at once. We can’t pass on any more to the price.” Tetsuo Sugawara (44), owner of the ramen restaurant “○ Suga” in Kameari, Tokyo, laments. The cost of materials, including the 70 kg of bean sprouts used per day, has soared 1.5 times. Last fall, we had no choice but to raise the price by up to 50 yen. Even so, the cost ratio for each cup exceeds 40%, “there is almost no profit.” As if to add insult to injury, he is forced to update the ticket vending machine.
Fumito Tanada, manager of the ramen shop “○suga,” speaks in front of a ticket vending machine that may become unusable due to the issuance of new banknotes.
Anticipating that machine prices will remain high before and after the new banknotes are issued, the company plans to not update its ticket vending machines for the time being and to have customers who receive the new banknotes exchange them for the old banknotes manually. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but I can’t help it,” he said, trying to swallow his frustration. Store manager Fumito Tanada (45) said with a sigh, “I hardly ever hear of incidents of counterfeit bills.Is it really that urgent that banknotes be reformed?”
According to Elcom (Ota Ward), a major ticket vending machine sales company, it costs 700,000 yen to upgrade a ticket vending machine that accepts only 1,000 yen bills, like the one used at ○Suga. Adding support for 5,000 yen and 10,000 yen bills, or adding a cashless payment function will cost an additional 500,000 yen each. In many cases, renewal costs exceed 1 million yen.
◆ Local government subsidy systems have also begun to be established.
In an effort to encourage renewal, in February Katsushika City announced a policy of subsidizing half of the cost of renewal, up to a maximum of 300,000 yen. Appropriate 66 million yen in the new fiscal year budget proposal. The ward is said to be the first in Tokyo to do so. Nationwide, Oguchi Town in Aichi Prefecture has been providing subsidies of up to 500,000 yen since September last year.
Ticket vending machine compatible with current banknotes
Old-fashioned shopping streets remain within the ward. According to the ward, establishments with four or fewer employees account for 60% of wholesale and retail businesses, the second highest percentage among the 23 wards. There are about 200 noodle shops and other shops that have ticket vending machines, and Satoru Miyama, head of the ward’s Commerce and Industry Promotion Division, says, “If there is a delay in updating ticket vending machines, it will be inconvenient for customers.We want to encourage a smooth transition.”
According to the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency, if you purchase a ticket vending machine along with the introduction of accounting software that supports the invoice system, you may be able to use an IT introduction subsidy of up to 200,000 yen. Even if they are used, businesses are forced to pay hundreds of thousands of yen per device.
new banknotesStarting from July 3rd, three types with completely new designs will be published. This is the first renovation in 20 years since 2004. The portraits on the front are Eiichi Shibusawa on the 10,000 yen bill, Umeko Tsuda on the 5,000 yen bill, and Shibasaburo Kitasato on the 1,000 yen bill. According to the Ministry of Finance, the main purpose is to prevent counterfeiting. In order to compete with the rapidly advancing technology of counterfeiters, we will be the first in the world to use portraits that appear to rotate in three dimensions. Even after the new banknotes are issued, the current banknotes will continue to be usable.
2024-02-24 21:00:00
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