Ultimately, the Dutch colonial government capitulated on 8 March 1942, though pockets of resistance lasted for several months.

[1] In the succeeding months, the Japanese government closed the banks, seized assets and currency, and assumed control of the Indies' economy.

For instance, the 100 and 1000 guilder notes, with a design similar to that used in occupied Malaya (also under the Twenty-Fifth Army), were only meant to be circulated in Sumatra.

[6] Initially, the widely available Japanese-issued roepiah was accepted as legal tender, together with the pre-war guilder, in both areas controlled by the Netherlands and those under Republican rule;[5] indeed, the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) printed more to deal with the costs of reestablishing Dutch administration in the area, though this also led to a continued increase in inflation.

[15][16] However, owing to the ongoing Indonesian National Revolution and the resulting chaotic monetary landscape, Japanese-issued bills remained in use into 1949.

[6] The Indonesian Minister of Finance, Alexander Andries Maramis, estimated in 1946 that the Japanese had put some 2.2 billion roepiah into circulation by the end of the occupation.

[12] In Portuguese Timor, the Banco Nacional Ultramarino allowed the exchange of the guilder for Timorese pataca at par until 31 December 1954.

However, as the war began to turn against Japan her advantageous shipping routes were disrupted, and many coins destined towards the Indies were lost in transit due to heavy artillery fire and torpedoing of Japanese ships by Allied forces; this resulted in the series having never been issued.

First issued in September 1944, the "Dai Nippon Teikoku Seihu" notes (The Japanese Imperial Government) were denominated in Roepiah and printed entirely in Java.