and the kids actually growing up with Suehiro.

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).

which performed in Japanese communities up and down the West Coast.

He was such a big movie star that his fame and money-earning potential even rivaled that of Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks!As a famous and successful silent screen actor in Hollywood during the 1920sThe city is also known as the site of Shizutani School.

celebrating our shared heritage.Besides the mayor and other city officials.

Japanese baseball fans are definitely showing up and staying here during their visit to Los Angeles.As Los Angeles gets ready for the 2028 Olympics.