made in japan...(well, china really) toshiro mifune (H in H part 2a)

well, there is just NO WAY i can illustrate what i am trying to depict in ONE (PART 2) post. 

hence, PART 2 of HIRO IN HOLLYWOOD will be a series of SEVERAL different posts...focusing on various asian actors in 'HOLLYWOOD'.     it's really the best way for me to try and present a glimpse of what our guy is up against, as he works to 'break through the walls that exist' and go BEYOND the LIMITATIONS set on asian actors in hollywood.

my focus will be on japanese actors first.

and of those, we have the ones that are from japan, and ones that are born in america, who's parents immigrated from japan. (called nisei).    (one of the few japanese words i DO know, as i am sansei...grandparents from japan)

BTW, for those that DON'T know this...mifune, while both his parents were japanese, was born in china (and fluent in MANDARIN!) and amazingly did not go to japan until aprox. 20 years old. 

until recently, if you ask anyone to name a japanese actor, TOSHIRO MIFUNE would have been the likely name to come up.   (today, it is likely ken).   this is evidenced by the IMDB STARMETER.   mifune died in 1997, and in 1998, his starmeter ranking was in the 1200 range...and it hovered in the 1-2000 range until early 2005.  from then, he dropped to the 3000 range (after TLS) and it has remained in the 3-4000 range since then.   (remember, 1 is the TOP).

MIFUNE achieved mild success in hollywood, but became BEST KNOWN from the TV mini series, SHOGUN.
from the imdb bio:

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A dynamic and ferocious actor, he excelled in action roles, but had as well the depth to plumb intricate and subtle dramatic parts. A personal rift during the filming of 'Akahige' (1965) ended the Mifune-Kurosawa collaboration, but Mifune continued to perform leading roles in major films both in Japan and in foreign countries. He was twice named Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival (for 'Yojimbo' (1961) and 'Akahige' (1965)). In 1963, he formed his own production company and directed one film and produced several others. In his later years, he gained new fame in the title role of the American TV miniseries "Shogun" (1980), and appeared infrequently in cameo roles after that.
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since his collaboration with kurosawa is widely known, and those movies are the CLASSICS of japanese film and samurai depiction....i am ONLY focusing on his career outside of japan.  (hollywood).   sadly, there were only a couple of clips i could find....but they give a 'flavor' of how ASIANS were portrayed in the U.S.   

SHOGUN was the first widely seen portrayal of (edo period) JAPAN to U.S. audiences....and it's interesting to see some of the images reminiscent of TLS and what MIGHT be shown in scorsese's SILENCE....
this first clip is an overview....

this second clip shows mifune and richard chamberlain....it illustrates what a powerful presence toshiro san had.

this last clip is fro 1982, and it was a john frankenheimer film called THE CHALLENGE

while these are clips from only 2 of many films he made in hollywood,....they were very 'japanese' or 'asian' specific.  

death of a tea master, the demon comes in spring, journey of honor, shadow of the wolf, picture bride are some of the titles from his last films.  

to read more on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mifune_Toshiro

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a few more ironic tidbits:

Even though Mifune worked hard to learn his English-speaking roles phonetically, his voice was always dubbed in the American films in which he appeared. This was one of the things that disappointed him up until the day he died.

BUT THE ONE THAT JUST BLEW ME AWAY.....
FROM IMDB TRIVIA PAGE:

In the Japanese animated series Maha Go Go Go (known in the U. S. as Speed Racer), the hero was named Go Mifune; the name was chosen in tribute to Toshiro Mifune.

SPEED RACER!!!!!!!!     like sanada san says....IT'S ALL LINKED....