Introduction

I
Intimacy and Distance: On Being a Foreigner in Japan
Japan: A Description
Japanese Shapes
Japanese Rhythms
Japan: Half a Century of Change
The Nourishing Void
The Coming Collapse of Cultural Internationalization
Interpretations of Japan
Crossing the Border

II
The Japanese Way of Seeing
Japan and the Image Industry
Traditional Japanese Design
Signs and Symbols
The Tongue of Fashion
Japan the Incongruous
Pink Box: Inside Japanese Sex Clubs

III
The Presentational Urge as Theatre
Some Loose Pages on Japanese Narration
Notes on the Noh
The Kyogen
TV: The Presentational Image
Outcast Samurai Dancer
Retro Dancing

IV
A Definition of the Japanese Film
Some Notes on Life and Death in the Japanese Film
Buddhism and the Film
Women in Japanese Film
The Japanese Eroduction
Trains in Japanese Film
Subtitling Japanese Films

V
Wasei Eigo: A Beginner's Guide
Mizushobai: The Art of Pleasing
Car Culture
The Window and the Mirror: Some Thoughts on International Culture
An Alternate Way of Thought
Foreign Thoughts on Watching the Passing of a Matsuri Procession
My View


Acknowledgments

"An indispensable guide to Japanese cinema and culture." -Library Journal

"Viewed any which way, Japan through the eyes of Donald Richie is an interesting and rewarding place to read about. This is...yet another reminder that he is a master of the short essay and a thought-provoking guide to his subject." -Jeff Kingston, The Japan Times

This definitive new collection of essays by the writer Time calls "the dean of arts critics in Japan" 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 essays-most never anthologized before-offer 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 Richie-film critic, reviewer, novelist, and essayist-have influenced generations of Japan observers around the world.

Donald Richie (1924-2013) lived in Japan from the mid-1940s until his death and was an internationally recognized expert on Japanese culture and film. His many works include The Inland Sea, The Donald Richie Reader, A Lateral View, and A Hundred Years of Japanese Film, as well as works on the film director Yasujiro Ozu and hundreds of essays and book reviews.