Bøger af Donald Richie

The classic travel journal, a quest for personal discovery and the ancient beauties and dying values of modern Japan.

A revealing look at the Japanese through the window of their contemporary culture.

These private recollections of longtime Japan resident and Japanese culture expert Donald Richie capture the personalities of the Japanese people with insight and humor. From the private musings of author Donald Richie, comes this extensive collection of brief written "e;portraits"e; which capture the personalities of 54 different Japanese peoplesome famous, some notorious, and some unknown. First written in 1987, Japanese Portraits presents one author's vision of Japanese culture and etiquette through precise, intimate profiles of both the ordinary and extraordinary people that make up the diverse nation. This collection of individual vignettes is perhaps the first book about the Japanese to view them entirely unhindered by the various theories about them, and about culture in Japan as a wholedepicting them as complicated, simple, inscrutable, and understandable, like anyone else, yet still unique. In these fifty-four pieces you'll meet some household namesMishima, Kawabata, Mifune, Kurosawaand little-known neighborhood figures: the would-be geisha, the ex-boxer turned gangster, the scheming bar madame and the old man dying alone. And there are dozens of others, individuals who have in common, besides their Japanese nationality, the fact that they knew the author, and thatfortunately for ushe knew them. These highly personal reminiscences form one of the most original and deeply felt books on culture in Japan ever to appear.

This photographic Tokyo travel guide explores the dynamic Japanese culture, art and architecture that make Tokyo a world-class city. It has been said that "e;every city has its high points, but Tokyo is all exclamation points!"e; The largest and most populous city in the world, Tokyo must be experienced in person to be understood truly. The next best thing? Tokyo Megacitya visual and descriptive exploration of a city that combines old with new and traditional with trendy, like no other city in the world.This extraordinary book explores Tokyo through 250 revealing photographs by well-known photographer Ben Simmons and over 30 essays by famed author Donald Richie. Their love of the city, their sense of its history, and the deep respect and pure joy felt in being here, shine through on every page. Simmons and Richie show us how modern Tokyo evolved from a patchwork of villages that still exist today as distinct neighborhoods and districts to the modern, trendsetting metropolis renowned the world overthat combine to make Tokyo a unique and special place.Tokyo Megacity presents the districts of the city in the order that they originally developed, starting with the Imperial Palace, sliding down to the "e;Low City"e; along the Sumida River, soaring back up to the "e;Mid-City,"e; and finally, climbing the hills to the newer districts of the "e;High City."e; The combination of Ben Simmons' photographs and Donald Richie's text capture, as never before, the tremendous diversity, vitality and sheer livability of the megacity that is Tokyo.

This definitive new collection of essays by the writer Time calls "e;the dean of arts critics in Japan"e; ranges from Kyogen drama to the sex shows of Shinjuku, from film and Buddhism to Butoh and retro rock 'n' roll, from wasei eigo (Japanese/English) to mizushobai, the fine art of pleasing. Spanning some fifty years, these thirty-seven essaysmost never anthologized beforeoffer cross-sections of Japan's enormous cultural power. They reflect the unique perspective of a man attempting to understand his adopted home.The writings of Donald Richiefilm critic, reviewer, novelist, and essayisthave influenced generations of Japan observers around the world.

This provocative book is a tractatea treatiseon beauty in Japanese art, written in the manner of a zuihitsu, a free-ranging assortment of ideas that follow the brush wherever it leads. Donald Richie looks at how perceptual values in Japan were drawn from raw nature and then modified by elegant expressions of class and taste. He explains aesthetic concepts like wabi, sabi, aware, and yugen, and ponders their relevance in art and cinema today.

This study examines the work of Akira Kurosawa, one of the century's greatest film directors. It discusses his choice of themes, story-telling technique, camera work and directorial style. New to this edition are a revised introduction and filmography, and some additional chapters.

Yasujiro Ozu, the man whom his kinsmen consider the most Japanese for all film directors, had but one major subject, the Japanese family, and but one major theme, its dissolution. The Japanese family in dissolution figures in every one of his fifty-three films.