“Perhaps more than an American high school, Japan is like an English public school. You are supposed to learn, excel, and win athletic distinctions—not for yourself, but for the house and for the country, for being Japanese. First on the… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“Leo Rubinfein over to ask questions for his book. He asked me what I most regretted, having lived half a century here, and witnessed… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“When I started to learn how to read, I discovered the same kind of power. I could create an environment that I didn't have,… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“What do I want to be when I grow up? An attractive role would be that of the bunjin. He is the Japanese scholar… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“In the same way both Lincoln and the Japanese regard people. These are also a kind of currency. A man is worth what he… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“As always, so polite that he is at the beginning distant, and yet always determined. This is because he has uses for us all.… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
Midlife crisis begins sometime in your 40s, when you look at your life and think, 'Is this all?' And it ends about 10 years… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“What happened was that sometimes I was, from a young age, put in the theater to watch movies because they kept me quiet and… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“Having lived most of my life in the most crowded city in the world, I have become used to this constant physical proximity. Wherever… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“Late, going home, I pass a group of squatting high schoolers. One of the boys, obviously seeking to impress the girls, says that foreigners… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“In the bath the attitude toward sex is representative. No people have it more firmly in place. They are a bit puritanical sometimes, and… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“Owen is utterly out of whatever closet he may once have been in. Is resident Concerned Gay Medical Personnel, or some such. This being… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
“Here we would notice that what we would call Japanese aesthetics (in contrast to Western aesthetics) is more concerned with process than with product,… — Donald Richie Copy Share Image
