Not long after the British Surrender on 15 Feb 1942, the Japanese moved quickly to consolidate their control of Singapore.
One of the first things they did was to re-name Singapore as 'Syonan-to' ( 昭南島 Shōnan-tō), which means "Light of the South".
But they didn't just stop there.
The Tanjong Pagar Railway station was renamed as "Syonan Station".
Japanese Troops posed triumphantly in front of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. “昭南驛” translates into “Syonan Station”. Pic: SG Film Hunter
The Japanese took over 'The Straits Times' offices and the paper was renamed as "The Shonan Times". The paper would see two more name changes - "The Syonan Times" and then later as "Syonan Sinbun".
Pics: SG.Pagenation.com
The local time in Singapore was moved forward by 1½ hours so as to be in sync with Tokyo time.
Schools were made to teach the Japanese language and textbooks were printed in Japanese. School children had to stand facing the direction of Japan and to sing the national Japanese anthem.
This was the wartime currency that was issued by the Japanese Government for the occupied territories of Malaya and Singapore during the Japanese Occupation.
The British currency was replaced with Japanese currency which was known as “Banana money” due to the picture of a Banana tree on the note. The currency would ultimately became worthless due massive amounts printed.
These changes would be the least of the problems that Singapore would face during the Japanese Occupation
The next three and a half years under the brutal Japanese rule would prove to be the darkest period in Singapore's history.
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