1 Yen

The Bank of Chosen was Japan's colonial central bank for Korea, and this 1945 issue was printed under conditions of severe wartime resource pressure — paper quality and printing precision declined markedly across late-war Japanese currency production. The Government Printing Bureau in Tokyo was simultaneously servicing military scrip, home islands currency, and occupation notes for multiple theatres, and it shows.

After Japan's surrender in August 1945, these notes remained in circulation briefly in the peninsula before Soviet and American occupation authorities each introduced their own replacement currencies. Notes printed this late were often released with minimal quality control and are frequently found with ink inconsistencies.