The Japan journals 1947-2004

About this book

"The transformation of Japan from post-war devastation to twenty-first-century economic and cultural powerhouse has been a remarkable spectacle. Donald Richie arrived in Tokyo on New Year's Day 1947 and since then has been living there to witness and report on this change. For over fifty years Richie's work - comprising dozens of books and hundreds of essays - had helped define modern Japan and Japanese culture for Western readers." "Now, having reached his celebratory eightieth year, this long-time observer of others has decided to open his private journals to public view. Spanning his entire time in Japan, Richie's writings show a man who is still intellectually engaged and still passionately romantic." "In the 1940s Richie eagerly violated U.S. Occupation rules against "fraternization" to sneak into movie theaters and concerts. His early work as a reporter for Stars and Stripes in Tokyo led to a career as a writer and critic. Interested in film, books, art, and music, he got to meet (and write in his Journals about) scores of Japanese luminaries, among them authors Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima, Zen philosopher D.T. Suzuki, composer Toru Takemitsu, Kabuki actor Tamasaburo Bando, and directors Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, and Nagisa Oshima." "As Richie's reputation grew (he was instrumental in introducing Japanese film to the West), he became to "go-to guy" for American and European artists passing through town. In the Journals are snippets of conversations from many of these encounters, portraying a whining Truman Capote, a self-absorbed Stephen Spender, a delightful Marguerite Yourcenar. Here, too, are examples of Richie's famously deft travel sketches of landscapes, buildings, and the Japanese urban scene and sense of style."--Jacket.