Travel Apr 26, 2019
Kurayami Matsuri: A long night of darkness, a long night of revelry
by Karen Noll
Past, present and future traditions collide at the centuries-old Darkness Festival at Fuchu's Okunitama Shrine, one of the oldest in the country.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Oct 14, 2017
'A Hundred Years of Japanese Film': Donald Richie gives us the long shot
by Kris Kosaka
Donald Richie didn't just open a window on Japanese cinema — the renowned film critic broke down a wall and put in a cultural door. A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, by Donald Richie.317 pages KODANSHA, Nonfiction. A classic among his more than 45 books on Japanese ...
Books Apr 16, 2016
Donald Richie: The legacy of an entrenched view
by Stephen Mansfield
The late Donald Richie lived at apartment number 804 in a block directly facing Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo's Ueno Park. The writer would lead visitors through his home's dimly lit entrance area — crammed with bookshelves — and his minuscule living room to the ...
Books Feb 20, 2016
The ink-stained road: 'age of experience'
by Stephen Mansfield
In the new age of experience that defines the travel accounts on Japan from the immediate pre- and postwar periods, writers began resisting the easy enamor of the Orient. Instead of viewing Japan as an exotic wonderland, they took a more considered, critical view ...
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES Nov 14, 2015
Critic Donald Richie reflects on Asia in 'Travels in the East'
by Stephen Mansfield
The writer Donald Richie wore many hats: film curator and director, critic, essayist, writer of fiction, composer, cultural commentator extraordinaire and inveterate traveler. Travels in the East, by Donald Richie160 pagesStone Bridge Press, Nonfiction. An ...
Books / Reviews Aug 2, 2014
by Mark Schilling
In his lifetime, Donald Richie was best known as a pioneering expert on Japanese cinema; he famously first brought the films of Yasujiro Ozu to the attention of the West, as well as writing the trailblazing "The Japanese Film: Art and Industry" with fellow ...
Travel Jul 12, 2014
Kunisaki: into a world of moss and stone
by Stephen Mansfield
The sense of antiquity on the Kunisaki Peninsula is immediate. There are those that believe the region — whose name is said to mean "land's end" — was created by demons in the service of powerful gods. You have to take these accounts with ...
Issues | THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Dec 23, 2013
Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes
by Brett Bull
A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
Film Dec 7, 2013
Re-examining Yasujiro Ozu on film
by Mark Schilling
Yasujiro Ozu once had a reputation for making films only other Japanese could understand. His studio bosses believed overseas audiences wanted the exoticism of samurai and geisha, not Ozu's quietly realistic dramas about contemporary middle-class families. This explains the reluctance of Ozu's studio, Shochiku, to export ...
Books / Reviews Apr 14, 2013
Digging for insights on foreigners living in Japan from some of the most prominent figures
by Jeff Kingston
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, ...
Film Feb 24, 2013
by Stephen Mansfield
Donald Richie was a scrupulous writer who paid finite attention to language and content. The following are 10 outstanding choices — titles that should be on any discerning readers' bookshelf. "Tokyo: A View of the City" (1999) Here Richie manages to give the impression of someone ...
Film Feb 24, 2013
The champion of Ozu's masterwork "Tokyo Story"
by Tadao Sato
Nowadays, the name of the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) is known throughout the world. But it wasn't always like this — and it might never have been, without the efforts of Donald Richie. After Ozu's masterpiece "Tokyo Story" was released in 1953, Japanese ...