Customer Reviews

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

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Anyone interested in Japan, the arts, cultural criticism or the art of the essay should read this book. Donald Richie is the preeminent Japan scholar of our time, beloved in Japan and honored in the rest of the world. Time Magazine has called him "the dean of arts critics in Japan."

But forget the cliche of Japanese temples and cherry blossoms... Richie isn't one of those old-fashioned Western Japanophiles nostalgic for some ancient version of "the Far East." He's interested in Japan here & now. Better yet, he's a fabulous writer--lucid, precise, irreverent, and never jaded.

These essays are a great way to "get to know" Donald Richie--you get his essays on everything from Tokyo Disneyland to traditional Noh theatre, from contemporary Japanese film to tattoos. My personal favorite is the disturbing but amazing essay on Japanese "eroduction."

And if you're a film buff, Richie is also the man who introduced modern Japanese film--Kurosawa, Ozu--to the West. Look for his perceptive essays about these artists. (Did you know he was the film curator at the NYC MOMA?)

This is a must-read and a great way to introduce yourself to Donald Richie's work and to Japan!

This is a good collection of short essays under the umbrella term `Japan`, but divided into handy categories such as Cinema, Tokyo and Popular culture. As the title suggests, these are often from a `lateral` viewpoint. The author doesn`t just tell you that the average family home is small and (relatively) uncomfortable to live in, he theorizes on the reason why this is, in this case (apart from the obvious space constraints in urban Japan) Richie argues that traditionally, the man of the house has many different `homes`, the office, the bar, the apartment etc and therefore doesn`t place so much importance on the Western concept of 'home'. The book does shed light on a lot of questions that those who live in Japan, or even those who just visit, may be wondering about. Such as, why do most Japanese TV news shows have an anchorman who is invariably supported by a `yes-woman`, and why do `yes-people` appear in small boxes at the top corner of the screen nodding to indicate agreement when agreement is needed and vice-versa. The only drawback to this collection is that some of the essays are old, with the latest being written in about 1989, so you`re not going to get any post-bubble commentary and the essays on `popular-culture` may be a little redundant now. There is also an essay written in the 1970`s on the problems of putting Japanese script onto paper with a typewriter and wondering what the future holds with the possibilities of the personal computer. However, the rest is a wonderful introduction to thinking about Japan differently, and while sometimes a little critical, shows a true love for the place.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (2/07)

This is an excellent collection of short essays that share Japan's culture and bits of Donald Richie with the reader. I've always enjoyed Japanese Gardens and immediately delved into the essays on that topic. "You must truly observe. Go to the garden and look at the rock, the tree. Ah, nature, you say and turn - then stop. You have just observed that rock and tree have been placed there, by the hand of man, the Japanese hand. A new thought occurs: Nature does not happen; it is wrought. A new rule offers itself: Nothing is natural until it has been so created." "The garden is not natural until everything in it has been shifted. And flowers are not natural either until so arranged to be. God, man, earth--these are the traditional strata in the flower arrangement, but it is man that is operative, acting as the medium through which earth and heaven meet."

Richie thoroughly discusses hand gestures. The meaning of a hand gesture in one country may not be the meaning of it in another country. We all use gestures when we speak but we don't necessarily interpret the gestures of another culture correctly. A smile in Japan may not necessarily mean happiness.

In Japan if you see a person wearing a shirt that says Cocoa Cola it means he loves that drink. The person with a university shirt on wants to attend that university. The person wearing Army Surplus is not making a statement. In the US wearing these same items would be "expressing an ironic scorn for the qualities they presumably inculcated. Wearing surplus U.S. army gear meant you were anti-Vietnam-War and hence anti Army."

If you are interested in the cultural and arts in Japan you will find this book fascinating. Some of the essays seem to have a little age on them. Richie admits, "What was true up to 1962 is not necessarily true up to 1989. Japan is fast changing, and some of the things one thought most Japanese are no longer apparent." I believe this book speaks much of who Richie is. Richie is the "acknowledged Western expert on Japan." I highly recommend "A Lateral View" to those interested in Japan and other cultures.

Received book free of charge