1 Kyat Puppet State of Burma

This note was issued under Japanese occupation by the nominally independent Ba Maw government, which Japan installed in August 1943. The State Bank of Burma was a creature of that arrangement — structurally a central bank, functionally an instrument of wartime occupation finance. The Japanese military printed enormous quantities of these kyat notes, partly to fund their own operations, which drove severe inflation across occupied Burma well before the war ended.

Notes from this period are frequently encountered with handling wear consistent with actual heavy circulation, unlike some occupation issues that were hoarded. The series became worthless on liberation in 1945.