Japan occupied the Netherlands East Indies from early 1942 and almost immediately faced the problem of supplying coinage to a vast archipelago while aluminium shortages at home were already biting. These occupation issues were struck in Japan and shipped out, a logistical reality that kept mintages concentrated rather than distributed across local facilities. The Dutch colonial coinage they displaced had been evacuated or melted; what remained in circulation was improvised.
By 1943, the aluminium allocation for subsidiary coinage was already being squeezed by military demands.
Japan occupied the Netherlands East Indies from early 1942 and almost immediately faced the problem of supplying coinage to a vast archipelago while aluminium shortages at home were already biting. These occupation issues were struck in Japan and shipped out, a logistical reality that kept mintages concentrated rather than distributed across local facilities. The Dutch colonial coinage they displaced had been evacuated or melted; what remained in circulation was improvised.
By 1943, the aluminium allocation for subsidiary coinage was already being squeezed by military demands.