Japanese invasion money
The Wartime Finance Bank primarily lent money to military industries, but also lended to hydroelectric generators, electric power companies, shipbuilding and petroleum.
[1] The Southern Development Bank provided financial services in areas occupied by the Japanese military.
Called "Mickey Mouse Money" by local Filipinos,[2] it was valueless after the overthrow of the Japanese, and tons of it were burned.
Japanese troops were ordered to destroy bank records and any remaining currency prior to capitulation.
[2] With the end of World War II, the currency circulated bearing the Japanese name immediately lost any value it once possessed and was discarded en masse.
Money that was issued included the Philippines, Burma (now Myanmar), Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak (now Malaysia), Singapore, Brunei, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and some areas of Oceania (New Guinea and the Solomon and Gilbert Islands).
The Japanese invaded Manila on 2 January 1942, and in the process captured more than $20.5 Million in U.S. and local cash and an unknown amount of foreign currency and bullion.
[citation needed] The Japanese used this hard currency abroad to purchase raw materials, rice and weapons to fuel and feed its war machine.
[citation needed][2] The Japanese began their attack on British Malaya the same day as Pearl Harbor.
The 1942 series of notes, including the 50c and 1, 5, 10, and the 1944/45 100-dollar all contained the text [The Japanese Government] "Promises To Pay The Bearer on Demand".
However, the Money Museum of the Bank Negara Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur has on display a pattern coin showing that occupation coinage was considered.
In 1943, the Japanese commuted the sentence of Dr. Ba Maw, an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule, and installed him as the head of the puppet government.
After the fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese attacked the Netherland Indies which were effectively overtaken by 9 March 1942 and held until surrender in August 1945.
All of these notes bear the following "De Japansche Regeering Betaalt Aan Toonder" or "The Japanese Government Promise To Pay The Bearer on Demand".
Denominations of 100 and 1000 Roepiah were issued in 1944, with the Indonesian legend "Pemerintah Dai Nippon" (Japanese Government).
General MacArthur asked the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to replicate the Japanese currency in the Philippines for his eventual return.
discovered correspondence from the Netherlands Indies Commission to the Governor, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, on 5 October 1942 shows a request of nearly 70,000 pieces of counterfeit scrip in varying denominations.
A follow-up letter three months later has a request for another 70,000 pieces of counterfeit scrip as the previous supply "proved to be very useful" and was exhausted.
The Association held the notes, issued membership certificates, official ID cards, and deposit passbooks.
Pursuant to the Treaty of San Francisco, signed in September 1951, Japan made restitution on a national, not individual, level.
