At the end of World War II, citizens throughout Japan suffered from poverty, hunger, and food shortages.  In order to help distribute food, Japanese people were given assigned rations.  In reality, living just on the rationed food often did not provide adequate nourishment, and a thriving black market developed amidst the constant food shortages.  In this photograph, taken on Sept. 21, 1945 in Tokyo, just after the end of the war, the people lined up are waiting for their rations of beans, as rice was not available to them at this time.  The bottles they were carrying were used to transport clean water.  

Credit: Donated by Corbis-Bettmann