Mitsu Yashima

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

Mitsu Yashima (八島 光^?, Yashima Mitsu), whose real name was Tomoe Sasako (笹子 智江^?, Sasako Tomoe), was a Japanese children's book author.

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. They went to America to study art in 1939. 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. Mitsu died at the age of 80 on December 7, 1988.