1942 Malaysia Japanese WWII Occupation 50 Cents "Banana Money" Note P# M4 Grades Gem+ CU. After Japanese forces occupied Malaya early in 1942, they introduced new currency notes. Because the $10 note carried a picture of a banana plant, the wartime currency was referred to as banana money. For the first two years of the occupation, the Japanese maintained monetary discipline and kept circulation of this currency under control. However, with the country’s trading economy at a standstill, there was little to tax and, in order to fund the civil administration and purchase supplies for the military, the Japanese began printing more and more money. In December 1940, the active circulation of currency in Malaya was 120 million dollars. By the middle of 1945, the Japanese may have printed 4,000 million dollars, and the active circulation was 30 times greater than before the war. The predictable result was hyperinflation.