What do you think?
Rate this book
Travels in the East
Donald Richie’s newest collection of travel essays explores all the corners of Asia and slightly beyond as it sweeps through Egypt, India, Bhutan, Mongolia, China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Borneo, Thailand, Yap, and Japan. Richie is an observer and wanderer, reveling in the freedom to not be himself but always aware of his role as an outsider. Similar to his other works, there remains a sense that these landscapes, these cultures, and these delights will soon be no more. Donald Richie is a film critic, the foremost explorer of Japanese culture in English, and the author of the acclaimed travel diary/novel Inland Sea .
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Donald Richie
115 books104 followersDonald Richie is an American-born author who has written about the Japanese people and Japanese cinema. Although he considers himself only a writer, Richie has directed many experimental films, the first when he was 17. Although Richie speaks Japanese fluently, he can neither read nor write it.
During World War II, he served aboard Liberty ships as a purser and medical officer. By then he had already published his first work, "Tumblebugs" (1942), a short story.
In 1947, Richie first visited Japan with the American occupation force, a job he saw as an opportunity to escape from Lima, Ohio. He first worked as a typist, and then as a civilian staff writer for the Pacific Stars and Stripes. While in Tokyo, he became fascinated with Japanese culture, particularly Japanese cinema. He was soon writing movie reviews in the Stars and Stripes. In 1948 he met Kashiko Kawakita who introduced him to Yasujiro Ozu. During their long friendship, Richie and Kawakita collaborated closely in promoting Japanese film in the West.
After returning to the United States, he enrolled at Columbia University's School of General Studies in 1949, and received his Bachelor's Degree in English in 1953. Richie then returned to Japan as film critic for the The Japan Times and spent much of the second half of the twentieth century living there. In 1959, he published his first book, The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, coauthored with Joseph Anderson. In this work, the authors gave the first English language account of Japanese film. Richie served as Curator of Film at the New York Museum of Modern Art from 1969 to 1972. In 1988, he was invited to become the first guest director at the Telluride Film Festival.
Among his most noted works on Japan are The Inland Sea, a travel classic, and Public People, Private People, a look at some of Japan's most significant and most mundane people. He has compiled two collections of essays on Japan: A Lateral View and Partial Views. A collection of his writings has been published to commemorate fifty years of writing about Japan: The Donald Richie Reader. The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 consists of extended excerpts from his diaries.
In 1991, filmmakers Lucille Carra and Brian Cotnoir produced a film version of The Inland Sea, which Richie narrated. Produced by Travelfilm Company, the film won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival (1991) and the Earthwatch Film Award. It screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992.
Author Tom Wolfe describes Richie as: "the Lafcadio Hearn of our time, a subtle, stylish, and deceptively lucid medium between two cultures that confuse one another: the Japanese and the American."
Richie's most widely recognized accomplishment has been his analysis of Japanese cinema. From his first published book, Richie has revised not only the library of films he discusses, but the way he analyzes them. With each subsequent book, he has focused less on film theory and more on the conditions in which the films were made. One thing that has emerged in his works is an emphasis on the "presentational" nature of Japan's cinema, in contrast to the "representational" films of the West. His book, A Hundred Years Of Japanese Film includes a helpful guide to the availability of the films on home video and DVD mentioned in the main text. In the foreword to this book, Paul Schrader says: "Whatever we in the West know about Japanese film, and how we know it, we most likely owe to Donald Richie." Richie also has written analyses of two of Japan's best known filmmakers: Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.
Richie has written the English subtitles for Akira Kurosawa's films Kagemusha (1980) and Dreams (1990)[8].
In the 21st century, Richie has become noted for his erudite audio commentaries for The Criterion Collection on DVDs of various classic Japanese films, notably those of Ozu (A Story of Floating Weeds, Early Summer), Mikio Naruse (When a Woman Ascend
During World War II, he served aboard Liberty ships as a purser and medical officer. By then he had already published his first work, "Tumblebugs" (1942), a short story.
In 1947, Richie first visited Japan with the American occupation force, a job he saw as an opportunity to escape from Lima, Ohio. He first worked as a typist, and then as a civilian staff writer for the Pacific Stars and Stripes. While in Tokyo, he became fascinated with Japanese culture, particularly Japanese cinema. He was soon writing movie reviews in the Stars and Stripes. In 1948 he met Kashiko Kawakita who introduced him to Yasujiro Ozu. During their long friendship, Richie and Kawakita collaborated closely in promoting Japanese film in the West.
After returning to the United States, he enrolled at Columbia University's School of General Studies in 1949, and received his Bachelor's Degree in English in 1953. Richie then returned to Japan as film critic for the The Japan Times and spent much of the second half of the twentieth century living there. In 1959, he published his first book, The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, coauthored with Joseph Anderson. In this work, the authors gave the first English language account of Japanese film. Richie served as Curator of Film at the New York Museum of Modern Art from 1969 to 1972. In 1988, he was invited to become the first guest director at the Telluride Film Festival.
Among his most noted works on Japan are The Inland Sea, a travel classic, and Public People, Private People, a look at some of Japan's most significant and most mundane people. He has compiled two collections of essays on Japan: A Lateral View and Partial Views. A collection of his writings has been published to commemorate fifty years of writing about Japan: The Donald Richie Reader. The Japan Journals: 1947-2004 consists of extended excerpts from his diaries.
In 1991, filmmakers Lucille Carra and Brian Cotnoir produced a film version of The Inland Sea, which Richie narrated. Produced by Travelfilm Company, the film won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival (1991) and the Earthwatch Film Award. It screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992.
Author Tom Wolfe describes Richie as: "the Lafcadio Hearn of our time, a subtle, stylish, and deceptively lucid medium between two cultures that confuse one another: the Japanese and the American."
Richie's most widely recognized accomplishment has been his analysis of Japanese cinema. From his first published book, Richie has revised not only the library of films he discusses, but the way he analyzes them. With each subsequent book, he has focused less on film theory and more on the conditions in which the films were made. One thing that has emerged in his works is an emphasis on the "presentational" nature of Japan's cinema, in contrast to the "representational" films of the West. His book, A Hundred Years Of Japanese Film includes a helpful guide to the availability of the films on home video and DVD mentioned in the main text. In the foreword to this book, Paul Schrader says: "Whatever we in the West know about Japanese film, and how we know it, we most likely owe to Donald Richie." Richie also has written analyses of two of Japan's best known filmmakers: Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa.
Richie has written the English subtitles for Akira Kurosawa's films Kagemusha (1980) and Dreams (1990)[8].
In the 21st century, Richie has become noted for his erudite audio commentaries for The Criterion Collection on DVDs of various classic Japanese films, notably those of Ozu (A Story of Floating Weeds, Early Summer), Mikio Naruse (When a Woman Ascend
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 15, 2021
J’ai lu la version française intitulée « Paradis éphémères », ed. Arthaud.
May 20, 2016
I have always felt that Donald Richie was a kindred spirit in that I I often agree with his assessments of of Japanese culture as well as observations about life. Richie revels in the new, exotic, unknown, the other-these are all of the essential reasons to travel to get outside of your comfort zone and come face to face with the strange and unknown. I see that in this collection of essay, Travels In The East (2007), we share some of the same sentiments about travel and the allure of foreign cultures. There are several essays about places that I haven't been and if they weren't already on my list, they most certainly are after Richie observes what it is about them that make them intriguing places and these include the following: Egypt, Indian, Bhutan, Mongolia, Borneo, and Yap (a small Polynesian island near Guam). I felt we had similar feelings about the places that we have both traveled as well: China, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, and Korea. Furthermore, in his section on Japan I think the only place I have been that he discusses is the "The Stone Garden of Ryoan-ji," which is Kyoto. The inspirational locales he visits are: "The Sacred Heights of Koya-san," "The Lakes of Hokkaido," The Satsuma Peninsula," "The Shores of the Noto Hanto," "Kunisaki-Land's End," and an "Asakusa" that no longer exists. I think this is a collection of essays that I will revisit as I follow in Richie's footsteps, because all all of these destinations are places that I long to visit as well.
April 28, 2008
This is one of the things I like about travel writing - when it is well-written (no matter how short or long), it makes you want to go there. Donald Richie has written a book of short vignettes about places that he has traveled to in Asia. Since Richie has lived in Japan for most of his adult life, it is clear that some of the essays, particularly about Japan, include events and experiences that occurred long ago, but he brings them in to use them to compare to current day. His word pictures are so well done that he really makes you want to visit the places he writes about. Now I would really like to go to Bhutan, for example.
Paul Theroux writes travel books as well and they are, honestly, the only ones of his books that I like, but Theroux never seems like a happy man so even his travel books have a veneer of cynicism and not a little bit of misogyny. Pico Iyer's writings are also very good as are Colin Thubron's, but I sort of liked Richie because I could actually imagine following in at least some of his footsteps which I would not think of with Therous, Iyer or Thubron.
Paul Theroux writes travel books as well and they are, honestly, the only ones of his books that I like, but Theroux never seems like a happy man so even his travel books have a veneer of cynicism and not a little bit of misogyny. Pico Iyer's writings are also very good as are Colin Thubron's, but I sort of liked Richie because I could actually imagine following in at least some of his footsteps which I would not think of with Therous, Iyer or Thubron.
October 6, 2023
Stuck in Texas I have to live vicariously through Donald Richie
The original visits were:
Egypt 2001
India 1988
Bhutan 1997
Mongolia 2004
China 1989
Laos 1999
Cambodia 2001
Vietnam 1996
Thailand: Sukothai 2005
Mae Hong Son 2006
Krabi 2001
Burma 2007
Borneo 1995
Korea 1988
Yap 2004
Japan: Ryoan-Ji 1963
Koya-san 1990
Hokkaido 1990
Satsuma 1991
Noto Hanto 1993
Kunisaki 1991
Asakusa 2005
The book is not that big so there are small but very informative snippets of each area. I am interested in the whole book but concentrated on Vietnam as I spent 14 months there mostly 1967-1968. It was good to see the Central highlands are much like it was when I was there. I only saw Cambodia’s jungle for a few days. Same with Laos. I did get two weeks in Japan unfortunately missing most of the cultural sights.
Again, I am living vicariously as I would give just about anything to see some of the major sites.
I have read extensive travel logs but none are as interesting as this one with a personal touch.
It may be a tad dated for your taste but my favorite book is “Customs and Culture of Vietnam” by Ann Caddell Crawford.
The original visits were:
Egypt 2001
India 1988
Bhutan 1997
Mongolia 2004
China 1989
Laos 1999
Cambodia 2001
Vietnam 1996
Thailand: Sukothai 2005
Mae Hong Son 2006
Krabi 2001
Burma 2007
Borneo 1995
Korea 1988
Yap 2004
Japan: Ryoan-Ji 1963
Koya-san 1990
Hokkaido 1990
Satsuma 1991
Noto Hanto 1993
Kunisaki 1991
Asakusa 2005
The book is not that big so there are small but very informative snippets of each area. I am interested in the whole book but concentrated on Vietnam as I spent 14 months there mostly 1967-1968. It was good to see the Central highlands are much like it was when I was there. I only saw Cambodia’s jungle for a few days. Same with Laos. I did get two weeks in Japan unfortunately missing most of the cultural sights.
Again, I am living vicariously as I would give just about anything to see some of the major sites.
I have read extensive travel logs but none are as interesting as this one with a personal touch.
It may be a tad dated for your taste but my favorite book is “Customs and Culture of Vietnam” by Ann Caddell Crawford.
July 31, 2015
Richie writes short essays about a number of Asian countries he has visited, focusing on one or two engaging aspects that he describes in a way that makes you want to either visit or stay away. Based on this, I think I want to go to Bhutan and Yap and avoid Viet Nam and Burma. No, just teasing, I'll go to all of them. Well written throughout and read in one sitting.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews