Curiosidades

Taka introduced Sayonara to audiences in the trailer. On the poster, she is "described as an exquisite new Japanese star in James A. Michener's story of defiant desire." Rare for its time, the film dealt head-on with racism and prejudice. It had what many consider the first onscreen kiss on the mouth between a leading white star and an Asian.

Taka married Japanese-American actor Dale Ishimoto in Baltimore, Maryland in 1944,and they had one son, Greg Shikata, who works in the film industry, and one daughter. They divorced in 1958.

She also served as an interpreter for Mifune as well as Akira Kurosawa when they visited Hollywood.

After director Joshua Logan's first choice for the role of Hana-ogi, Audrey Hepburn, turned him down, he looked to cast an unknown actress. Taka, who at the time was working as a clerk at a travel agency in Los Angeles, was discovered by a talent scout at a local Nisei festival. Although she had no previous acting experience, Variety gave her a positive review in their review of the film.

Taka was born in 1925 in Seattle, but raised in Los Angeles, California as a Nisei; her parents had immigrated from Japan. In 1942, following the signing of Executive Order 9066, she was interned with her family at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona.

Her best known role was as an elegant Japanese dancer starring opposite Marlon Brando in the Korean War drama Sayonara. She also acted in several other films and TV shows with fellow performers such as Miyoshi Umeki, James Garner, Bob Hope, Cary Grant, and Toshiro Mifune.

Warner Bros. gave her a term contract as a result of her performance in Sayonara.

She continued taking small roles in films and television series before being cast as Kiri in the film "Shogun" and the subsequent series, which saw her reunite with Toshiro Mifune.

In 1958, Taka visited Britain for the first time and was described as "one of the most exciting cinematic discoveries in many years".

She was an American actress, popular for her film and TV roles from the late 1950s until the early 1980s.