Tokyo: The year-end balance of bank notes in circulation is estimated at 124,608 billion yen in 2023, marking the first fall in 14 years, the Bank of Japan said Friday.

A stack of 10,000-yen bills equivalent to the value would be 1,246 kilometers high, about 330 times higher than 3,776-meter Mount Fuji, the country’s highest peak.

A year earlier, the balance stood at 125,068.3 billion yen.

The decline this year followed the spread of cashless payments. Another major reason was that consumers used cash they had on hand as economic activities resumed after the COVID-19 crisis, leading many bank notes to return to the BOJ via commercial financial institutions.

The balance of bank notes in circulation is the total value of bank notes held at homes, companies and elsewhere.

JIJI Press