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50 Sen - Shōwa Savings Certificate
| Issuer | Imperial Japanese Government |
|---|---|
| Year | 19 (1944) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Vertical format note with a dark green floral and scroll border. A pale green guilloche underprint frames the large kanji denomination 五拾錢 at centre. Issue date and validity date appear in vertical columns flanking the central vignette; a red circular imperial chrysanthemum seal is printed at lower centre. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 一、本證券ハ臨時資金調整法ノ規定ニ基キ發行シタルモノナリ 一、本證券ハ券面金額ヲ以テ左ニ出スモノナリ 一、本證券券面金額ヲ以テ左ニ揭グル貯蓄ニ充ツルコトヲ得 一國情郵便貯金 二國債貯金 三銀行（日本銀行除）、市街地信用組合、市町村農業會又ハ産業組合 定期預金又据置貯金 四合同運用信託 五金融組合／定期預金又据置貯金 一、本證券之ノ表記載期間内ニ前項ノ貯蓄ニ當セサルトキハ其ノ效カヲ失フモノトス 一、本證券ニ付イテハ償還ヲ行ハズ |
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| Comments |
The Shōwa savings certificates were not conventional circulating currency but wartime compulsory savings instruments — a fiscal mechanism designed to pull small-denomination spending power out of the civilian economy and redirect it toward war production. By 1944, the Japanese government was aggressively suppressing consumer demand through these and related schemes, as inflation from deficit military financing had become increasingly difficult to manage.
The 50 Sen face value reflects the granular reach of the program — targeting the smallest transactions, the smallest earners. Printed domestically by the Printing Bureau in Tokyo at a moment when material shortages were already affecting paper quality across government outputs.