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168 Panel 4issue notes and the first modern Philippine banknoteswere issued, in English in 1951, printed by Thomas dela Rue in England. There were nine differentdenominations all of which carried a portrait of adeceased historical person. Seven of the ninebanknotes issued then carried the portraits of 19 thcentury heroes associated with the struggle forPhilippine Independence. Two of the nine notes inthis series carried 20 th century figures, both formerpresidents of the Philippines. It is significant that eightof the nine banknote portraits were male with the soleexception of Melchora Aquino or “TandangSora” anelderly woman who supported the Philippinerevolution against Spain. She was later moved frombanknote to a coin in 1967. The next time the portraitof a woman appears in a Philippine banknote, after aquarter of a century, in 1991.The New Generation Currency released at the end of2010 is composed of six denominations, the text on allare in Filipino. It is significant that compared toprevious banknote series the portraits carry no more19 th century heroes of the Philippine Revolution,these historical figures had been relegated to coins overthe years. Five of the six portraits on the notes are ofPresidents (politicians), the only note withoutpoliticians is the 1,000-peso note that honors threeheroes of World War II who fought against theJapanese during their occupation of the Philippines.Public reaction to the 2010 New GenerationCurrency, while generally positive, has included somecriticism regarding accuracy in detail and also theinterpretation of history, making a banknote abattleground for various viewpoints.THAILANDEarly money in Thailand was cowrie shell and latergold, silver bullet money or “pod duang” and evenChinese gambling chips and some flat coins. The firstpaper money was issued in 1853 and known as the“Maii”. The paper money “AttKradat” was issued in1873 to address a shortage in coins. Like othercountries in Southeast Asia before the establishment ofcentral monetary authority, the paper moneycirculated was that issued by private or commercialbanks that were multilingual. One banknote had textin English, Chinese, and Thai.At present, banknotes are issued by the Bank ofThailand in six different denominations. Thailand hashad 15 different banknote series. In the 20 th C, onlythree Thai kings have appeared as portraits inbanknotes: Rama VII, Rama VIII, and Rama IX withthe rest appearing as design elements on the reverse ofthe bills. As the world’s longest reigning monarch, it isnot surprising that the portrait of Rama IX hasappeared on seven out of fifteen banknote series from1948 to the present. With the portrait of the reigningking dominant on the face of the banknote, the reverseexpresses other symbols of nation: Chakri kings, GreatKings, Temples, significant historic and culturalartifacts, achievements of different kings through Thaihistory.JAPANUnlike Thailand that has the reigning king as aportrait on the front of all their banknotes, or Malaysiathat has the portrait of their first King on the front ofall their banknotes, Japan is unique because it has areigning Emperor but he is conspicuously absent fromJapanese banknotes. One explanation given for this isthat the image of the Emperor was so revered in thepast it was not appropriate to be placed on a commoneveryday item as a banknote.The earliest paper money in Japan known as “koku”was based on rice as a medium of exchange. Later, inthe 19 th century banknotes took on the form werecognize today with portraits on the face of the note.It is significant that in the development of Japanesenotes, almost all the portraits are male, preferably witha beard to deter counterfeiting, and before 1984 thesewere mostly politicians. Only two women haveappeared as a portrait on Japanese banknotes: EmpressJingu in 1881 and Higuchi Ichiyo in 2004. To addressthe gender gap the Bank of Japan suggested placing theportrait of Murasaki Ichibu, author of the “Tale ofGenji” on a commemorative 2,000-yen note to beissued in 2000. A technical difficulty was raised by thePrinting Bureau because there was no clearphotograph or image of Lady Murasaki. Thus, the2,000-yen bill did not have a portrait on the front andhad an image of the Shureimon Gate in Okinawa thesite of an important G8 meeting that year. LadyMurasaki appeared as a small detail on the reverse ofthe banknote.The 1984 Japan Banknote Series followed the patternof European banknotes that celebrated artists andwriters, thus resulting in the series with Meiji Period“Men of Culture” namely: Natsume Soseki (Writer),Nitobe Inazo (Agricultural economist, author andThe Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows