10 Cents Eta Jima; School Command

Eta Jima — the island in Hiroshima Bay that housed Japan's Imperial Naval Academy — was requisitioned by American occupation forces after the surrender and converted into a training facility under A.P.O. 354. Mess script of this kind circulated exclusively within the installation, preventing local currency from leaking back into a Japanese economy that occupation authorities were actively trying to stabilize. The green paper series covered denominations from cents into dollars, all redeemable only at the issuing mess.

These notes were not produced by any government printer. The quality reflects local or small commercial production, and many did not survive the periodic demonetizations that occurred whenever personnel rotated out in bulk.