Occupation MoneyView Cart / Checkout
When one country is occupied by another, and the invading entity prints and issues money, then it is legal tender. The government that has the authority to print money is the government in charge. This usually means that they have an army with weapons. The one who holds the weapons is the one in charge. This doesn't necessarily mean that the occupying forces are out in the streets, pointing their weapons at civilians, making them accept the occupation money. Instead, what often happens is that the soldiers who hold the guns are watching the policy makers, whose work is to benefit the invading government. Whether or not the policy makers, or the legislature, are locals or foreigners, they must follow the instructions of the government that controls the region or country. The penalties for not complying are usually prison or execution. During World War II, the Japanese Government printed and issued money in the occupied territories such as Dutch New Guinea, Malaya, Burma (currently Myanmar), Philippine Islands (now the Philippines), and other areas of Southeast Asia. Occupation money was legal tender in the states that were under command of a foreign country's air, land and sea forces. Occupation money was not legal tender in the mother country of the invading forces. For example, bills issued by the Japanese Government for circulation in Malaya, Burma, or any of the other countries mentioned, were never good in Japan. Occupation money was necessary for several reasons. One of the main motives was to prevent the mother country's bills from being copied by the occupied region's population, undermining the value of the mother country's currency. Other times, the occupied money would be designed with local pictures, portraits and icons, with the rationale that the new currency would quickly gain popularity in the controlled regions. After all, accepting any bill for payment is a sign of faith in its issuer. By making the occupied money look somewhat familiar to the locals, the foreign government expected the people to more readily assimilate the currency that has been imposed on them. In other words, the invaded country could regard the occupied money bills to be, at least in part, something of their own. Occupation money is different from Military Payment Certificates, or MPC.
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