An open letter to Mako

You are, for better or for worse, one of the most famous Japanese American actors. Yessiree, Korean Americans have John Cho and Sung Kang, Jacqueline Kim, Sandra Oh, Chinese Americans have...Edison Chen...(actually he's Canadian) Perry Shen, and Bai Ling, Lucy Liu (I'd rather have Edison). South Asians have Kal Penn, Filipinos have Dante Basco (aka, that kid who played Rufio in Hook) and we have you and Pat Morita, and Gedde Watanabe. Rock on.

I still remember one of my friends in high school trying to convince me to see Pearl Harbor with her. "No, Mako is in it."
"Oh, no he's really good."
"Let me guess, he plays the Japanese gardener."
"How did you know?"
"Oh, just a feeling."

I have to admit I was actually kind of relieved when you died, because you would stop embarrassing us with appearances in movies like Pearl Harbor, and any Asian American major motion picture known to God.

However I have recently learned that before your passing you did voicework on the new Teenage Ninja Turtles movie that was released recently. I thought you would stop embarrassing us once you died.

I was wrong.

P. S. I thought you were ok in The Wash.