Life during the Japanese Occupation

The Japanese Occupation is generally regarded by Singaporeans as the darkest period of Singaporean history. The Japanese had claimed that they were liberating Southeast Asia from colonialism, but in reality they were far harsher rulers than the British ever were.

To remove Western influence, the Japanese promoted the Japanese spirit. Every school, government building and Japanese company began with a morning assembly. Those present at such gatherings had to stand facing the direction if Japan and sing the Japanese national anthem. Teachers had to learn Japanese several times a week. The students received their daily Japanese lessons on the schools' broadcasting service. Radio stations were controlled by the Japanese and people could only listen to local broadcast. Those caught tunning in to foreign broadcasting stations were severely punished or killed.

Resources were scarce during the Occupation because Singapore's entrepot trade was disrupted and all available resources were used to support Japan's war efforts in other parts of Asia.

Rationing was introduced to control the sale of essential items like rice, salt and sugar. Once a month, people would line up at the kumiai shop (distrubution association) for hours to purchase whatever retions that were available.

Many people lived in poverty and suffered from malnutrition and disease. Essential foodstuffs

like rice were sold at high prices in the blackmarkets.
The Japanese issued banana money as their main currency, giving them further control over the economy as Straits currency became rare. Whenever the authorities needed more money they simply printed more notes. The 'banana notes' were also printed on inferior quality paper with no serial numbers and could be forged easily. As there were a lot of 'banana notes', the value of the notes dropped leading to soaring prices. Hence life became harder.