March 21st, 2013 / 9:29 pm
Author Spotlight
Janice Lee
Author Spotlight
Donald Richie and the Japan Journals: A Tribute
Peter Tieryas Liu previously wrote about Donald Richie and his Japan Journals on HTMLGIANT (read the full review here).
And now this great video:
Tags: Donald Richie, Peter Tieryas Liu, The Japan Journals
Nice.
“‘[The] destruction of chronology’ is an applicable description for The Japan Journals, especially as [Richie] describes the changes within Japan, sometimes lamenting them, other times understanding their inevitability.”
— I think that, in order to describe historical “changes”, one would have not to destroy chronology, but rather, to reveal its causes (albeit perhaps in a disclosure itself temporally scrambled?).
“‘Explanation is always unnecessary. If you use your eyes and your ears properly, you will understand; if you do not, no amount of explanation will inform you.'”
— One understands what Richie means here: Tokyo Story (for example) can be felt fully, in a way, even by those unfamiliar with the codes and rituals of everyday Japanese life that inform it (and mark those lives as ‘different from non-Japanese’). But I think those differences (between the Japanese-ness of Tokyo Story and the sensibilities of non-Japanese people) are intelligible as and by way of an opacity–one which some amount of “explanation” might not only disclose, but also perforate (or find permeable) a little.
Hey Deadgod, excellent points, thanks for checking it out!
Thanks Deadgod, really great points, and thanks again for checking it out! (and sorry if this comment repeats twice as my first comment was deleted/or lost)