Education

The Japanese language was taught in schools and adults were encouraged to learn Japanese in night schools. It was hoped that this would lead to an appreciation of the "superior culture" of the Japanese, and make administration of the population easier.
The older students were more anxious about the number of years they missed school and when the British came back, some of them found themselves in a class three or four years higher, and they could not cope. Because on the emphasis on learning Japanese, no English lessons were given although the teachers had to teach in English as the students were not proficient in Japanese.

Rationing, substitutes and black markets

There was a serious shortage of food and other goods. As a result of the war, it was difficult to get supplies from other countries. Very few ships brought foodstuffs to Singapore because there was a shortage of food. The Japanese took fuel and other petroleum products from Southeast Asia for their own use. They also took over much of the foodstuffs and other goods for their army.
Due to the food shortage, essential foodstuffs such as rice, salt and sugar were rationed. Ration cards, which limited the amount of food for each person were given out. Two to three hour queue-ups once a month for basic, low-quality foodstuffs became a normal occurrence.
To cope with the food shortage, people had to live on simple diets and find other food substitutes for scarce food items. Tapioca and sweet potatoes were used as substitutes for rice and palm oil or coconut oil was used as cooking oil. people had to improvise to survive. For example, making condensed milk by putting sugar in fresh milk and cooking it for hours. We made rope from pineapple fibre and paper from pineapple leaves.
Sometimes, people relied on the black market to get their basic necessities. Shopkeepers took the opportunity to raise the price of the items. For example, a dozen eggs could cost $120. The situation was made worse by how the Japanese issued money to beat inflation. The money was called 'banana notes'. Whenever the authorities needed more money, they printed more notes. Later , the notes were printed on low-quality paper without serial numbers, making them easy to forge. As a result, there a lot of banana notes and their value dropped drastically.

Japanese Propaganda

The Japanese carried out propaganda to influence the mindsets of the people of Singapore. They wanted to remove Western influence and promote Japanese culture and values.
The Japanese wanted the people of Singapore to use Japanese language. There were Japanese lessons published in newspapers and broadcasted over radios. Japanese language was also taught in school. Privileges such as jobs and extra allowances were given to encourage the people to learn the Japanese language.
the Japanese also tried to influence the school children to become patriotic towards Japan. Students had to face the direction of japan and sing the Japanese national anthem every morning. (Education will be emphasised in later posts)
Radio stations were controlled by the Japanese and radio sets were sealed so that people could only listen to local broadcasts.Those caught listening to foreign broadcasts were severely punished or killed. In cinemas, only Japanese propaganda films were shown.
The local Chinese and English newspapers also came under the control of the Japanese and very little local news Most of what was reported was the Japanese version of the war and pro-Japanese speeches.
To make the local people loyal to Japan, Japanese festivals and other important Japanese events such as the emperor's birthday were celebrated.