A watercolor believed to have been painted by Antoine de Saint-Exupery for his novel "The Little Prince" has turned up in Japan and will go on display April 25 in Tokyo, exhibition organizers said Wednesday.

Of the 47 Saint-Exupery paintings that illustrate the book, only a handful have been found. The French novelist and aviator was lost in a flying mission in 1944, according to the organizers.

Painted on letter paper, the work depicts an asteroid inhabited by a businessman that the little prince stops at before coming to the Earth.