Within 24 hours of its attack on the United States, Japan invaded Southeast Asia. After two years of existential war with Germany, European forces mustered only token resistance. British Malaya, in what is now Malaysia, fell to the Japanese, who sank two British warships on December 10, 1941. The supposedly impregnable British base at Singapore was taken by Japan in February of 1942, with
some 25,000 troops surrendering, much to the dismay of Winston Churchill.
This set contains nine notes issued by the Japanese Government that circulated in occupied Malaya:
a 1, 5, 10, and 50 cents, and a $1, $5, $10, $100 and $1,000 bill.