He worked so hard to improve our nation because its personal for him.

he lived in a palatial mansion in the Hollywood Hills and threw lavish parties for the glitterati of the Hollywood elite.Sessue Hayakawa was in Los Angeles in the early 1910s and was about to return to Japan to engage in the naval career his parents had planned for him.

By Bill WatanabeDid you know that one of the biggest superstars of the silent screen era in Hollywood was a Japanese guy named Sessue Hayakawa?He was cast as the mysterious foreign lover who beguiled young white women on the silver screen before the famous Latin lover Rudolph Valentino.which won the Oscar for Best Picture and for which Hayakawa was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.who became a major actress in her own right.

Due to the success of that performance.but it is notable to remember that he was discovered right here in Little Tokyo!Later in life.

Wanting to make movies that he thought more accurately portrayed the real Japanese character.

He actually worked menial odd jobs for a while as a starving young actor when he performed his first major acting role – the lead in a stage adaptation of Kenjiro Tokutomis 1898 novel The Cuckoo (Hototogisu).Chen presented Yoshimura with a key to the city and a personalized Torrance jersey.

and he encouraged the children to do the same.A ceremony took place at Torrance City Hall with Torrance Mayor George Chen and Bizen Mayor Takeshi Yoshimura signing the formal agreement.

Torrance Unified School District.chairman of theGWEN MURANAKA / Rafu ShimpoTorrance Mayor George Chen and Bizen Mayor Takeshi Yoshimura shake hands after signing a friendship city agreement on Aug.