The Ration Card!

Rationing were introduced to control the sales of essential items like rice, salt and sugar. Each household was issued with a 'Peace Living Certificate' which entitled them to a number of ration cards to purchase essential goods. Once a month, people would line up at the kumiai shop(distribution association) for hours to purchase whatever rations that were available. 

Many lived in poverty and suffered from malnutrition and diseases. Essential foodstuffs like rice ,salt and sugar were sold at high prices at black market. The situation gotten worse by the unlimited supplies of Japanese 'banana notes'. As there were a lot of banana notes, the vale of the notes dropped, leading to soaring prices. Hence, life became harder.

TAKEN FROM HISTORY TEXTBOOK CHAPTER 6.