Discovering Japan

A Hundred Years of Japanese Film
06.23.2002

As a boy in northwest Ohio during the 1930's, Donald Richie spent a lot of time watching movies about exciting new worlds.  So it seems only fitting that Donald Richie went on to live in a different world.  For the past 50 years he’s lived in Japan, and has established a reputation as one the of the leading authorities on Japanese cinema.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’re off to the Japanese movies with Donald Richie.  And we’ll explore the dark side of Japan, which goes well beyond the faltering economy.

  1. Alex Kerr on "Dogs and Demons"

    Alex Kerr tells Jim Fleming that the administration of daily life in Japan is completely divorced from politics and that Japan spends some 40 percent of its budget on construction.

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  2. Christine Yano on Enka

    Christine Yano tells Steve Paulson about Japanese “enka” music – songs that are intended to make listeners and performers cry.

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  3. Peggy Orenstein on Parasite Singles in Japan

    Peggy Orenstein tells Anne Strainchamps about “parasite singles” - young Japanese, mostly female, who reject the traditional life of marriage and children.

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  4. Steven Okazaki on Cross-Cultural Racism

    Steven Okazaki is a third generation Japanese-American and an Academy Award winning film-maker. He tells Jim Fleming that Japanese-Americans face racism both at home and in Japan.

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  5. Donald Richie on Japanese Film

    Donald Richie grew up in Ohio during the 1930's where he came to prefer the reality of the cinema. When he moved to Japan, he learned the culture by going to the movies.

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