A paper-sheet recognition apparatus that acquires information from a paper sheet and recognizes the paper sheet based on the information. The apparatus includes one or more light emitting units that output first to n-th lights (n>2) of different wavelengths; an emission controller that performs emission control of the light emitting units; a light receiving unit that receive a component of a light, which has been emitted from the light emitting unit and then reflected from and/or transmitted through the paper sheet; and a paper-sheet recognition processor that recognizes the paper sheet by using an optical signal received by the light receiving unit. The emission controller performs the emission control of the light emitting units such that the number of light emissions per one emission cycle with respect each of to the first to n-th lights differs depending on information desired to be used in recognizing the paper sheet.