A Lateral View: Essays on Culture and Style in Contemporary Japan

by Donald Richie

Overview

A revealing look at contemporary Japanese culture.

This masterfully written collection of short essays by the acknowledged Western expert on Japanese culture and film spans thirty years and ranges broadly over subjects as diverse as the Noh theater, fashion, television, Tokyo Disneyland, language, the kiss, and, of course, film. Donald Richie's twenty-eight essays present cross-sections of Japan's enormous creative accomplishments during the nation's rise to economic and cultural power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780893469702
Publisher:	Stone Bridge Press
Publication date:	07/01/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	245
Sales rank:	993,650
File size:	303 KB

About the Author

Donald Richie has been writing about Japan for over 50 years from his base in Tokyo and is the author of over 40 books and hundreds of essays and reviews. He is widely admired for his incisive film studies on Ozu and Kurosawa, and for his stylish and incisive observations on Japanese culture.

Editorial Reviews

Richie has long been one of the most insightful Western commentators on Japanese culture. His particular field is film criticism, but he has also written fiction and travel accounts, as well as essays on general culture. This current work, which was originally published in a slightly shorter version in Japan in 1987, collects 28 of his essays on a wide range of topics. There are descriptions of life in contemporary Tokyo, treatments of various aspects of Japanese popular culture, and a number of pieces on traditional Japanese theater and the cinema. Whatever the subject, the author's graceful style and understanding of his material shine through. This work serves as an excellent introduction to life in contemporary Japan as well as to its author, and should be acquired by most libraries.-- Scott Wright, Univ. of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn.

Library Journal

"Richie’s awareness of both cultures makes him a penetrating observer of Japanese life."
—W. Lawrence Neuman, Education About Asia

From the Publisher