Taro Yashima was a Japanese-American artist and children's book author.
10 Facts About Taro Yashima
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Taro Yashima immigrated to the United States in 1939 and assisted the US war effort.
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Taro Yashima's father was a country doctor who collected oriental art and encouraged art in his son.
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Taro Yashima graduated from Kagoshima Prefectural Daini-Kagoshima Middle School.
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Taro Yashima then joined a group of progressive artists, sympathetic to the struggles of ordinary workers and opposed to the rise of Japanese militarism.
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The New Sun, published in 1943 under the name Taro Yashima, was a 310-page autobiographical picture book for adults about life in pre-war statist Showa Japan, including details of the harsh and inhumane treatment he and his wife underwent for participation in anti-militarist groups in the 1930s.
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Taro Yashima began writing and illustrating children's books early in the 1950s, under the same pseudonym he had used in the OSS.
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Taro Yashima returned to his home village of Nejime, visiting childhood classmates and familiar scenes that he depicted in several of his children's picture books.
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Taro Yashima was the father of renowned actor and voice actor Mako Iwamatsu and actress Momo Yashima.
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Taro Yashima was the biological father of writer Chihiro Isa.