BookDragon Blog

Richie, one of Japan’s most famous ex-patriots, points out in his introduction that some 90% of all Japanese films made before 1945 were destroyed, whether during the 1923 earthquake, the 1945 fire-bombings or even the post-war destruction by Allied Forces. From Japanese film’s beginnings that captured the traditional art forms of kabuki on film before the turn of the 20th century, to the canonical works of Ozu and Kurosawa, to the effects of the advent of television, to the disturbing “new wave” films of Oshima Nagisa (of the infamous Ai no korida/In the Realm of the Senses), to the ethereal, beautiful works of Kore’eda Hirokazu in the ‘90s, to the phenomenon of anime, Richie’s is a personal exploration of the history of Japanese filmmaking. The final, selective guide to video and DVDs at book’s end is a major plus.

Reviews: “Diasporic Proliferation or: We’re Here, There and Everywhere … and Growing,” Push >, NAATA: National Asian American Telecommunications Center (now the Center for Asian American Media), 2002

“New and Notable,” aMagazine: Inside Asian America, February/March 2002

Readers: Adult

Published: 2002