The value of the yen, 1200 GMT

One dollar = 118.5 yen One euro = 109.7 yen One GB pound = 173.9 yen

And production of the new yen notes would increase the workload of the country's printing industry.

But there could also be harmful side-affects, such as opportunistic price rises during the conversion period.

The Japanese Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa has denied that he has plans to redenominate the yen in order to prop up the economy.

Controversy

But some key politicians from the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) are reportedly still pushing for the plan to be adopted.

And the government's spokesman, Yasuo Fukuda, said that it was "basically not a bad idea".

The proposed value of the yen

One dollar = 1.18 yen One euro = 1.1 yen One UK pound = 1.74 yen

The bottom line is that Japanese politicians are running out of ideas of how to drag the economy out of an 11-year recession.

The dire economic situation led to a vote of no confidence in President Yoshiro Mori - a vote which he survived.

The government and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) have limited policy options to fight concerns about deflation, since interest rates are already just 0.15% above zero.

And the BoJ is reported to have been in dispute with the government over how best the country can extract itself from the financial difficulties.