that unless Hayakawa's co-star was an Asian actress, he would not be able to portray a romance with her. Hayakawa was placed in this awkward position due to his ethnicity. Naturalization laws at that time prevented him from becoming a U.S. citizen and because of anti-miscegenation laws, he could not marry someone of another race. Hayakawa's early films were not popular in Japan because many felt that his roles portrayed Japanese men as sadistic and cruel. Many Japanese viewers found this portrayal insulting. Nationalistic groups in particular were censorious. Some Japanese believed that Hayakawa was contributing to increased anti-Japanese sentiment in the U.S., and regarded him as a traitor to the Japanese people. After Hayakawa established himself as an American superstar, the negative tone in the press that regarded him as a national and racial shame lessened by a noticeable degree, and Japanese media started publicizing Hayakawa's cinematic achievements instead. His later films were also not popular, because he was seen as "too Americanized" during a time of nationalism. Personal life On May 1, 1914, Hayakawa married fellow performer Tsuru Aoki, who co-starred in several of his films. Hayakawa had previously married a white actress, Ruth Noble, a fellow vaudeville performer who had co-starred with him in The Bandit Prince. Noble gave birth to a son, Alexander Hayes, but they divorced in 1929 and Hayakawa got custody of the child. Sessue and Aoki adopted him, changing his name to Yukio, and they raised and educated him in Japan. Later, they adopted two more daughters: Yoshiko, an actress, and Fujiko, a dancer. Aoki died in 1961. Physically, Hayakawa possessed "an athlete's physique and agility". A 1917 profile on Hayakawa stated that he "is proficient in jiu-jitsu, an expert fencer, and can swim like a fish. He is a good horseman and plays a fast tennis racket. He is tall for a Japanese, being five feet seven and a half inches (171.45 cm) in height, and weighs 157 pounds (71.21 kg)." Hayakawa was known for his discipline and martial arts skills. While filming The Jaguar's Claws, in the Mojave Desert, Hayakawa played a Mexican bandit, with 500 cowboys as extras. On the first night of filming, the extras drank all night and well into the next day. No work was being done, so Hayakawa challenged the group to a fight. Two men stepped forward. Hayakawa said, "The first one struck out at