Japanese-Philippine Money 1st Issue

Reference: "Philippine emergency and guerrilla currency of World War II" by Shafer Neil. Seen in the appendix of the brief summary of Philippine paper money.

Japanese-Philippine Issues During World War II- "Mickey Mouse Money"

The Japanese wasted no time in proclaiming the validity and acceptability of the first issue of their invasion currency. Following is the text of an official proclamation by the Japanese army which is self-explanatory:

PROCLAMATION Jan. 3, 1942

The Imperial Japanese Army in the occupied areas, will use the war notes(military pass-money) endorsed and issued by the imperial Japanese Government. All the people residing within the concerned areas should be aware of the following:

1. The war notes (Military pass-money) have been issued by the Imperial Japanese Government and said government takes full responsibility for their usage having the correct amount to back them up.

2. Those who hold the war notes will be able to use them in making payments of all kinds.

3. If any one attempts to interfere with the circulation of the war notes (such as rejection of payment, forgery, or spreading the untrue nature of news concerning the war notes of any kind) his act will be considered hostile and will be punished severely.

4. The war notes and existing currencies, and foreign currency will be prohibited from exportation and importation for a while.

5. Kinds and classes of the war notes will e as follows:

10 peso-note, 5 peso-note, and notes of 1 centavo, 5 centavo, 10 centavo, and 50 centavo.

This first Japanese invasion issue was of a general nature similar in many respects to other invasion issues prepared for conquered areas like Malaya, Burma and the Netherlands East Indies.

For this post, I will be showing those include in the first issue.

1 Centavo:

5 Centavos:

This five centavo is encased in plastic that's why you can see some sort of tape at the back, probably done by the previous owner to protect the note from dust.


10 Centavos:



50 Centavos:

The notes of 50centavos and higher all show the same plantation scene on the face side.




1 Peso:

A 1 Peso was also issued though it is not mentioned in the Proclamation.


5 Pesos:




10 Pesos:

These notes seems to be produced in such large quantities that they became cheap. Even the higher denomination such as 500 Pesos and 1000 Pesos can be bought lower that its face value. I've seen bundles upon bundles of such notes being offered especially around Manila, from the worn and almost destroyed type, up to the desirable and uncirculated condition.

Despite that these money were somewhat degraded nowadays, still for me, this became an important change during that period and as to oppose the Japanese occupation, guerilla money were created. My earlier posts discussed some of the guerilla money that were used in different provinces in the Philippines.