Taiwan offered to pay Japan compensation in bananas
Odd diplomacy from 1954:
After the war, the territories in which Japanese ships could operate were restricted by the so-called “MacArthur Line” set by the Allied occupation forces. Between November 1947 and August 1949, two Japanese fishing ships were attacked and sunk, and 30 ships were seized by the Republic of China in the East China Sea. The Japanese government later asked the Republic of China to pay compensation equivalent to the quantity of fish the ships had caught.
The diplomatic documents describe that the Republic of China offered Japan “banana compensation” through its embassy in Japan in February 1954, saying “Two of the 32 fishing ships are likely to be returned home. The amount of compensation per ship will be bananas equivalent to 150,000 Taiwanese dollars. The bananas will be sent to Japan and the sales proceeds in Japan can be counted as compensation.”
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