MALAYA UNDER JAPANESE OCCUPATION

Malaya, now Malaysia, was a former British colony - one of the most lucrative for the empire as it had lots of tin and rubber-  but was occupied by the Japanese during world war II and was returned after the war to the British before an armed uprising gained the people independence in 1957.

The note above is from the Japanese occupation period and was issued in 1942. the japanese seem to have used a similar template for most of the places they occupied and only the name of the money was changed, dollars in this case, rupee, rupie of rupiah.

more Malayan notes HERE

JAPAN

Japan is a constitutional Monarchy with a capital city of Tokyo. After 2 centuries of Isolationism, Japan signed a treaty with the US in 1854 and opened up its ports to begin modernising. During the 19th and 20th centuries Japan became an invading power in the region, occupying Korea, Formosa (Taiwan),and Sakhalin Island. In 1931/2 Japan occupied Manchuria and then in 1937 invaded china as a whole. In 1942 Japan attacked Pearl Harbour which led to the US joining the Second world war.
As the intro  to japan is quite war heavy, I thought I'd include a link to some of the Japanese culture

Monetary units: 1 Yen = 100 Sen

The Notes above are as follows:

Top is the 10 Yen note from 1944/45 with a portrait of Wakeno Kiyomaro. then in the middle is the 1 Yen note from 1946 with Ninomiya Sontoku on the front. The last one here, is the 50 sen note from 1942-44 with the Yasukuni shrine on the front