I haven't seen a 2000 yen bill since 2009 or 2010.

On many levels they are like the dollar coins - there, but completely annoying. If you have 1000 yen 10000 yen bills in your wallet, a 2000 yen bill very easily becomes something handed over with some 1000 yen bills (with you forgetting it is a 2000 yen bill), and the cashier not noticing as well.

My fiance and her mom visited the US and I went with. They were confused about the change (yeah, a dime doesn't say ten cents on it) and got some dollar coins - I made sure to use those ASAP.

The only places I believe you'll get a 2000 bill are at banks or currency exchange offices. 2000 yen bills are never given out as change! (though I see no reason why they shouldn't)

As an experiment I checked out the 5 vending machines in my office. Two are standard drink machines, two are coffee machines, and one is a snack machine. None of them take 2000 notes. There are some machines in Japan which do take 2000 yen notes but I wouldn't count on it!

Used one in machine to purchase new Icoca card today. All machines that I could see took Y2000 notes. This is not an issue.

I am going to Tokyo in 2 months. Will be exchanging some currency. I should not worry if I get some 2000 then from the conversation, right? Is cash the dominant payment in Japan? If so how much does one need for a 3 day stay excluding hotels as that will be known in advance. Just an understanding of cost there. I know it all depends on one lifestyle but its my first time and I would like to see the city in a typical touristy way.

No problem anywhere with Y2000 notes on trip last week. Yes cash is dominant for day-to-day stuff (not hotels). How much you need depends on you, especially in what level of food/drink you'll be indulging...

Nope. I visited Gion Corner on my recent trip to Kyoto. They gave change in 2000 yen notes. Nice! ^

Japan is cash based generally. If you're spending your time in Tokyo, you can use credit cards at big places (hotels, chain restaurants generally, denki stores, limousine bus from NRT, combini, JR tickets from Ticket Office). Where you can't is at a lot of nice old traditional places or Yoshinoya.

The amount of cash you need depends on what you like to do. I'm a fan of B-Cuisine so considering a bowl of ramen on average is just under 1000Y and a tonkatsu dinner is about twice that, I'd guess 20000 yen in your pocket should be fine. If you need more, there's 7-11 bank and your ATM card.

Where OP was referring to the tip to Japan on April 2016. Thanks for the response to OP which is a year and four months late… :p :D

Now that this topic has been resurrected. I haven't seen a 2000 yen note in Kansai for several years. Are they still being returned as change elsewhere?

My understanding is that National Printing Bureau has not printed 2000 yen bill for long time, but Bank of Japan is still actively circulating 2000 yen bill. What ever reason 2000 yen bill just did not caught up in Japanese. Although Bank of Japan is trying to actively circulate 2000 yen bill, demand for 2000 yen bill is so low that story has it that there are a lot of 2000 yen bill left in Bonk of Japan warehouse storage even thought 2000 yen bill has not being preinted for so long. Many Japanese has not seen 2000 yen bill for long time and likely place to get hold of 2000 yen bill today is at banks. However, 2000 yen bill is still commonly used in Okinawa because 2000 yen bill has a picture of Shureimon Gate of world heritage site Shurijo Castle in Okinawa.

I don't see a reason why there should be a 2,000 JPY bill in the first place. 1K, 5K and 10K bills are IMO handy enough. And while I don't see the point for 2K bills, they aren't useless. That's something you can't say about 1 JPY coins...

Just used mine to pay for the Airport Limousine Bus.

...then used the leftover change to stock up on Hokkaido Melon Kit Kats. :D