I recently worked on a series of illustrations for our family friend, Reiko Odate Matsumoto’s children’s story, “The Sweet Potato”.  I was initially drawn to the project because it takes place in post-war Japan, a time that my dad experienced as a child growing up in Yokohama.  The story focuses on Tetsuo, a poor but much loved boy, and his encounter with two much more unfortunate beggar children.  Below are a few illustrations from the project:

Below are a few photographs that I used for inspiration.  Regretfully, I did not note their sources.