Portrait of an elderly Japanese man with a white beard and wearing traditional dress and a ...

Portrait of an elderly Japanese man with a white beard and wearing traditional dress and a western style hat, walking down a village road, probably at Ohita. He is passing an elderly stooped villager and being watched by a woman holding a baby in the doorway of a house. This image is part of a collection of photographs taken in Japan between 1947 and 1952, relating to the service of VX150779 Captain (Capt) John Patrick (Jack) McMullan, of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) Labour Unit in Japan. Capt McMullan’s wife Cecilia (also known as Celia and Celie), and son Brian John, lived with him in Japan as BCOF dependants. Cecilia and Brian were the photographers for most of the photographs in the collection. Brian was nine years old when he arrived in Japan in 1947. The presence of families of servicemen of all ranks was a distinctive aspect of BCOF.