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5 Cents Club Sugamo
| Issuer | Club Sugamo |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945-1952 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper with stark letterpress black print. The issuer name "CLUB" and "SUGAMO" appear in bold serif capitals across the upper portion, flanking the central area. The denomination "FIVE" and "CENTS" bracket a boxed numeral "5" at centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CLUB SUGAMO FIVE 5 CENTS |
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| Comments |
Club Sugamo was the recreational facility operated inside Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, where Class A war crimes suspects were held by Allied occupation authorities between 1945 and 1952. This scrip was issued for use within the prison canteen system — a closed monetary economy serving detainees that included some of the most prominent figures of Imperial Japan's wartime government.
Occupation-era prison scrip of this type was never meant to survive. Most was redeemed, discarded, or destroyed when Sugamo closed to Allied custody in April 1952 and control reverted to Japanese authorities. Surviving pieces are genuinely rare artifacts of a very specific administrative moment.