This very nice looking lens hood might be one of Yashima’s first to carry the Yashica name in the “squished” oval design. It’s a 32 mm metal push-on type designed to simply slide over the taking lens’ chrome ring. The case is a very mellow brown… the stiching is more or less taupe and the snap is orange-brown. The inside has the typical red felt on two sides and natural leather elsewhere. The case and hood may be from early 1956-ish. It’s fitted to our c1954 Yashicaflex AS-II. A later Japanese sales brochure from 1959 has the hood listed for only ¥230 and it’s with the Yashica A III.

Yashica lens hood from early 1956 or so.

Close-up detail of the metal hood (32mm) push on type.

Only 230 yen! 1959 sales brochure.

Yashicaflex AS-II

The camera that started it all!

We believe that this is Yashima’s first newspaper advertisement in English. The newspaper appears to be from sometime in 1954 and the camera depicted could be a late 1953 model. The newspaper, more than likely, was circulated in and around United States military bases in Japan in the 1950s. On the other side of this ad is an advertisement for a furniture store in Tokyo. The ¥15,000 price (with case) is extremely low for such a well built camera.

From a 1954 Japanese newspaper published in English.

Yashima’s first(?) English language ad from 1954.