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Japanese Portraits: Pictures of Different People
Longtime resident of Japan and Japanese culture expert Donald Richie shares his private recollections, capturing the personalities of the Japanese people with insight and humor.
Informed by Richie's background in film, this extensive collection of brief written "portraits" expertly captures the personalities of 54 different Japanese people --some of whom are famous, some notorious, and some unknown. 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 this diverse nation.
This collection of individual vignettes presents a view of the Japanese that is entirely unhindered by the various theories about them, and about culture in Japan as a whole. Richie writes, "I am writing about people, not 'a people;' a series of portraits of certain Japanese I have known personally, each of whom, being human, is unique."
The book depicts Japanese people as complicated, simple, inscrutable, and understandable, like anyone else, yet still individual.
In these 54 pieces, you'll meet some household names -- Mishima, Kawabata, Mifune, Kurosawa -- as well as little-known neighborhood the would-be geisha, the ex-boxer turned gangster, the scheming bar madame, and the elderly man dying alone. Among the dozens of others profiled, there are individuals who have in common the fact that they knew the author, and that -- fortunately for us &8212; he knew them.
br> These highly personal reminiscences form one of the most original and deeply-felt books on Japanese culture ever to appear.
Informed by Richie's background in film, this extensive collection of brief written "portraits" expertly captures the personalities of 54 different Japanese people --some of whom are famous, some notorious, and some unknown. 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 this diverse nation.
This collection of individual vignettes presents a view of the Japanese that is entirely unhindered by the various theories about them, and about culture in Japan as a whole. Richie writes, "I am writing about people, not 'a people;' a series of portraits of certain Japanese I have known personally, each of whom, being human, is unique."
The book depicts Japanese people as complicated, simple, inscrutable, and understandable, like anyone else, yet still individual.
In these 54 pieces, you'll meet some household names -- Mishima, Kawabata, Mifune, Kurosawa -- as well as little-known neighborhood the would-be geisha, the ex-boxer turned gangster, the scheming bar madame, and the elderly man dying alone. Among the dozens of others profiled, there are individuals who have in common the fact that they knew the author, and that -- fortunately for us &8212; he knew them.
br> These highly personal reminiscences form one of the most original and deeply-felt books on Japanese culture ever to appear.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
8 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Donald Richie
117 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
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 15, 2016
Will never forget any of these portraits. Especially unforgettable: the Festival of Darkness. Richie takes you there and sends you back with the belief that you stood with him amongst the naked bodies becoming one. Or as he writes: when humans again become human
February 14, 2023
Donald Richie's writings are always revelatory about the subjects in which he writes about: Japanese society and culture in general, as well as that of himself. This especially true in Japanese Portraits:Pictures of Different People (2006). Several of these vignettes were featured in The Donald Richie Reader, but all of them have some interesting perspectives about the subjects mentioned above. Since Richie is interested in culture and the arts there are several portraits about artists. There are profiles on writers like Yukio Mishima (somewhat revealing about both writers' sexuality) and Yasunari Kawabata (in which he Richie comes to accept his suicide). People associated with films: Yasujiro Ozu and actors associated with him Setsuko Hara and Chishu Ryu, as well as a film executive associated with his studio Hiroshi Momma (who refused to believe Richie's claim that Ozu could be understood and appreciated by non-Japanese audiences), Akira Kurosawa and his collaborators Toshiro Mifune and Isuzu Yamada, frequent film composer Toru Takemitsu, the Japanese Hollywood actor of the silent period Sessue Hayakawa, actor Tsutomu Yamazaki (who acted opposite Richie in his small part in Hiroshi Teshigahara's Rikyu), Kon Ichikawa (of whom Richie feels disappointment with his later films after a golden period in the 60s), Shintaro Katsu (popular actor of the Zatoichi series of films), and Nagisa Oshima (iconoclast film maker and intellectual). Richie tracks down the infamous Sadao Abe, who accidentally killed her lover and severed his penis as a keepsake of which Oshima made his provocative film Realm of the Senses, working in an izakaya to draw crowds. Richie also writes portraits of several artist associated with performance art: Tastsumu Hijjikata (Butoh dancer), onnagata (female impersonators) Utaemon Nakamura and Tamasaburo Bando, and Shuji Terayama (expressionist theater playwright and poet). He profiles two artists: Tadanori Yokoo and Mayumi Oda. There are portraits of people working in the mizushobai (water trade-red light district): Minoru Sakai (a male host working in a host bar), Oharu Kitano (geisha), Sonoko Suzuki (a low level geisha), and Sumire Watanabe (Ginza mamasan of a hostess bar). But the most revealing portraits, about Richie, the subjects, and Japanese society are those common everyday folks with whom Richie encounters in his daily life: Saburo Sasaki (a sushi apprentice wiling to take abuse in order to rise in the ranks at work), Hiro Obayashi (a wealthy publisher who hires Richie then forces him out of the job), the heartbroken seeking solace and answers from Richie like Keiko Matsunaga and Hidetaka Sato who commits suicide when heartbroken, the furosha (homeless) Toshiro Morikawa, the story of Kikuo Kikuyama that provides Richie with the opportunity to describe gay cruising in Japan, and the busybody, Hisako Shiraishi, who drives Richie out of his apartment building. Other interesting and enlightening portraits include those of Princess Michiko and Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki. It is a fascinating, nuanced and very personal look at people and life in Japan.
February 20, 2008
Without a doubt, Donald Richie is one of the great observers of Japanese culture - serious and 'pop.' He knows its cinema history as well as its literature. And I get the impression that Richie is a very open-minded generous man, and it really shows in his 'portrait' books. Little essays or interviews with various artists and others. Richie is a remarkable man, and he opened up my eyes to a lot of Japanese culture. Fascinating!
June 3, 2014
Delightful character sketches, although I enjoyed the ones dealing with strangers and Richie's friends, my favorites were the cinema related ones; Ozu, Kurosawa, Oshima, Mifune, Setsuko Hara, among others.
RIP Donald Richie.
RIP Donald Richie.
September 23, 2018
As always brilliant.
Full Review:
https://ianjoshyateswriting.blogspot....
Full Review:
https://ianjoshyateswriting.blogspot....
July 6, 2024
Some pf the vignettes were extremely affecting, others were cloying or otherwise left me cold. The inland sea is definitely a better book to read with the intention of being introduced to Japan. This one is better read second for a deeper dive
March 19, 2022
Excellent collection of character sketches of real live human beings the author knew at one time or another.
March 7, 2016
saya dapatkan buku ini di obralan seibunkan.
saya tertarik pada janji di cover buku ini, yang menyanjung sebagai "more revealing than many a thick sociological study"
he..he..
yang penting di situ ada ulasan tentang kurosawa, kawabata, mifune...yang terakhir ini mengingatkanku pada aktor yogya yudi he..he..
---
cara donald richie bercerita memang kaya.
dia tidak sekadar melaporkan karakter-karakter jepang yang dijumpainya tapidia seperti membangun kembali kekayaan karakter tadi. dengan rinci dan hanya 3-4 halaman unutk masing-masingnya.
saya tertarik pada janji di cover buku ini, yang menyanjung sebagai "more revealing than many a thick sociological study"
he..he..
yang penting di situ ada ulasan tentang kurosawa, kawabata, mifune...yang terakhir ini mengingatkanku pada aktor yogya yudi he..he..
---
cara donald richie bercerita memang kaya.
dia tidak sekadar melaporkan karakter-karakter jepang yang dijumpainya tapidia seperti membangun kembali kekayaan karakter tadi. dengan rinci dan hanya 3-4 halaman unutk masing-masingnya.
November 16, 2016
Such a great approach from Richie. The stories collected are all short portraits. Vignettes. Some are of famous actors and directors. Others are neighbors and casual acquaintances.
What he manages in this short volume is to offer a partial portrait of Japan, its cultures, and its cinema in these small slices of the lives of individuals.
What he manages in this short volume is to offer a partial portrait of Japan, its cultures, and its cinema in these small slices of the lives of individuals.
October 17, 2013
The portraits of "ordinary" people were well-written and often insightful with regard to Japanese social hierarchies. Richie wrote disproportionately about the world of drama however (film, plays, etc.) which was of considerably less interest to me.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews