Mitsu Yashima

Mitsu Yashima
八島 光
Mitsu Yashima in 1975
Born	Tomoe Sasako
Died	December 7, 1988
Occupation(s)	Children's book author, artist
Spouse	Taro Yashima
Children	Makoto Iwamatsu, Momo Yashima

Mitsu Yashima (八島 光, Yashima Mitsu, born Tomoe Sasako (笹子 智江, Sasako Tomoe)) was a Japanese children's book author.

World War II and later years

Mitsu was the daughter of a shipbuilding company executive. She attended college in Japan. In the '30s, she joined a Marxist study group, where she met her future husband, artist Taro Yashima. On December 10th, 1933, Mitsu and Taro had their first child, Makoto Iwamatsu, who would become a renowned actor and voice actor. In 1939 she and Taro went to America to study art. When World War II broke out, Mitsu joined the U.S. war effort, working for the OSS by sending American propaganda to the Japanese. She adopted the pseudonym Mitsu Yashima during the war. Following the war, Mitsu and Taro had their second child Momo, whom also appeared in many of their children's books. Mitsu died at the age of 80 on December 7, 1988.

See also

• Japanese dissidence during the Shōwa period

Further reading

• Mitsu Yashima, Tarō Yashima (Sep 5, 1961). Momo's Kitten. Viking.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

External links

• "Taro Yashima: Artist for Peace | History". History.librarypoint.org. Retrieved 2014-02-04.