Taro Yashima (born Atsushi Iwamatsu, 1908-1994) was a Japanese-American artist and author of children's books. He appeared in a Sesame Street film insert as an older man whose dragon kite is sent aloft by two kids (demonstrating cooperation).[1]
Yashima fled Japan for the United States of America in 1939, and when hostilities between the two countries broke out in World War II, he served in the OSS (adopting Taro Yashima as his name then to protect family still in Japan). He began his authorial career with The New Sun (1943), with illustrations of his life in pre-war Japan and the personal persecution he and his wife Mitsu experienced, followed by Horizon Is Calling (1947). He moved to children's books (sometimes co-written with his wife), notably Crow Boy (1955).
Yashima was the father of Mako, who became a noted actor in films such as The Sand Pebbles and Conan the Barbarian and other projects.
Sources[]
- ↑ Season 22 spreadsheet.