Lot of 98x Japanese-Occupied China 1937-1940 5 Yen Notes in Circulated Condition, 98pcs

Lot of 98x Japanese-Occupied China 1937-1940 5 Yen Notes in Circulated Condition, 98pcs

In the decades leading up to World War II, Japan was enjoying a period of unprecedented prosperity. It had broken with literal centuries of strict isolationist policy, had pushed its way onto the modern world stage, and was being rewarded with a massive boom in population, economy, and global status. There was, however, one problem: Japan was (and remains) an island chain of mountain ranges. To continue on this promising trajectory, Japan needed space. It needed resources.

This was the catalyst for the rise of the Japanese Empire. Stoking the fires was Japan's long-held belief in its own superiority, and a general swing towards aggressive, right-wing nationalism. It began by picking at the mainland, expanding first into Taiwan and then into bits of eastern Russia. In 1910, it annexed Korea. By the 1930s, the Japanese Army was feeling unstoppable. Taking China itself would be a cakewalk, and China would yield everything the Empire could possibly need: unlimited resources, endless tracts of fertile land, and a limitless supply of inferior bodies to provide slave labour. In 1931, they took Manchuria. In 1937, riding high on their string of victories, they struck at China proper -- and were promptly stonewalled at Shanghai. What was supposed to be a blitzkrieg became a brutal slog, plagued by guerrilla warfare, sabotage, Russian interference, and winters the likes of which were unknown to the Japanese. Frustrated by these difficulties, Japan reacted with some of the most appalling, monstrous violence in the history of warfare. The most famous example is the Rape of Nanking, a six-week orgy of murder and sexual violence perpetrated by the Japanese Army that left over 300,000 civilians dead.

The rest of the world was rightfully shocked by what Japan was doing. They reacted with total oil embargos -- and Japan, being an island chain full of mountains, had no oil supply of its own. It lost 94% of its supply overnight. Neck-deep in an extremely hostile China, Japan could not withstand this blow and so concocted a desperate plan: hit the United States so suddenly and so brutally that they would be knocked out of Southeast Asia. Japan could then sweep in and seize the oil fields it needed to keep the war machine running. It chose the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, as its target -- a decision that would ultimately end all of Japan's imperial ambitions.

This bundle of notes was issued by the Provisional Government of the Republic of China -- that is, Japan's puppet government, which operated out of Beijing until the capture of Nanking. In 1940, the Provisional Government merged into the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, which was also a Japanese puppet. These wartime "invasion notes" have text in Chinese characters and Latin script for use throughout Southeast Asia. The birds depicted are Onagadori, ornamental chickens with extremely long tails that are considered national treasures to this day in Japan.