AT HOME ABROAD: The Contemporary Western Experience in Japan, by Adam Komisarof. Reitaku University Press, 2012, 251 pp., ¥3,570 (hardcover)
Donald Richie, prolific author of more than 40 books and longtime contributor to The Japan Times, died in February at age 88. April 17 was his birthday, so this review pays tribute by sharing some of the insights he passed on during an interview, one of 12 in this book, conducted four years ago.
Adam Komisarof, a professor in Reitaku University's Department of Economic Studies and Business Administration, pushes aside academic conventions, confessing at the outset that when "it comes to insight into Japan, Donald Richie is my hero." The interview is presented in 13 pages of question and answer format. The author, like many of us, later found himself wanting to ask more questions.