Japanese portraits : pictures of different people : a series of intensely personal portraits of unforgettable Japanese characters

The private collections of longtime Japan resident Donald Richie capture the personalities of certain Japanese people--some famous, some unknown--with insight and humor. Richie, who considers himself a foreigner despite living in Japan for over 53 years, is a keen observer of human nature. In Japanese Portraits, he provides an elegant and perceptive vision of Japan through precise, intimate portraits of ordinary and extraordinary Japanese people. Portraits include such notable Japanese as acclaimed filmmakers Akira Kurowasa and Yasujiro Ozu, famed novelist Yukio Mishima, and celebrated actor Toshiro Mifune. 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 figures: 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. 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 figures: 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. Presents the author's private recollections and vision of Japan. This work contains portraits of ordinary and extraordinary Japanese people that include such notable Japanese as acclaimed filmakers Akira Kurowasa and Yasujiro Ozu, famed novelist, Yukio Mishima and celebrated actor, Toshiro Mifune. 'Nobody has thought as widely and as concretely (therefore, as helpfully) as Richie has about how a single distinctive culture gathers up contradictions, coheres, works, resists change, and changes.--Susan Sontag'