Food during the Japanese Occupation On 8 December 1941 , the Japanese dropped their first bombs on Singapore.The Japanese had to take over Malaya first before reaching Singapore. Singapore was captured on 15 February 1942.In the end, the British surrendered.The British surrender was a shock to the people of Singapore. They had expected the British to protect them.Some questioned if the British could still be trusted.Singapore was renamed Syonan-to which means 'Light of the South'.Life was tough and the people of Singapore suffered. As there was very little food,the people did not have proper meals. Most families lived on a diet of broken rice made into a porridge with sweet potato or tapioca to make it more filling and a few fragments of salted fish or ikan bilis.People were always short of food as war made it difficult to get food from other countries.Basic necessities like rice,salt and sugar were controlled through rationing. Ration cards were given out to limit the amount of food given to each person.They had to wake up as early as three o' clock in the morning to queue for their rations. Tapioca became very common and the people started to make tapioca recipes.It could be steamed and cut into fries and made into Ubi Kayu (Steamed Tapioca Cake).When boiled with coconut milk and sweetened with palm sugar,it made a delicious snack.Tapioca mashed into flour could be made into keropok(prawn crackers). The flour could also be made into sago flour beads.Vegetables were also common and excess long beans or kangkong could be exchanged for another vegetable or a piece of fish,if any. On 15 August 1945, the Japanese were forced to surrender.Earlier,two atomic bombs were dropped on two cities in Japan: Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The bombs killed many Japanese and caused great destruction.On 12 September 1945,the Japanese in Singapore formally surrendered to the British at the Municipal Building,now known as City Hall. The British flag was raised to show that Singapore was once again under British rule. The people in Singapore welcomed the return of the British because they were glad that the war had ended. References: 1)Ministry of Education,Curriculum Planning & Development Division (2013)Inquiring into Our World Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Education Thank you.We hope you enjoy our presentation. Proudly written by Atoms:Felix,Rafeeqah,Joshua,Jiun Myin,Alisha and Jia Lu.