re: James Shigeta passed away, age 81

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agree, most of the Asian actors in Midway turned in top notch performances, him, Pat Morita, John Fujioka Dale Ishimoto, Robert Ito, and Toshirô Mifune really helped to make a great movie.

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Absolutely - until Letters from Iwo Jima, Midway and, perhaps, Tora! Tora! Tora! were the only big budget American films to offer the Japanese some voice and dignity.

Midway and A Bridge Too Far - the 2 big color WWII epics of the 1970s have aged very well and are stuffed full of big name actors.

I like Shigeta in most things - his many, many television appearances, for example. I wasn't much for Flower Drum Song, but it is a fun watch to see him and Jack Soo, so young, in a musical.

Had a film like The Last Samurai been made 15, 20 years earlier, he could have easily carried off the Katsumoto role very well. In many ways Ken Watanabe has taken up Shigeta's banner, at least on the film side.