study question about Donald Richie

After read Donald Richie’s Japan: A Description, I know more about Japanese society and how gaijin think about this country.

I am taking Professor Richie’s Asian Studies class. I like Akira Kurosawa’s movies, and very much enjoyed hearing his analysis of the Seven Samurai and other Japanese period films.

Professor Richie also told us fascinating things about Japanese architecture, which maximizes open, aesthetically beautiful space with pillars, beams, cut wood, and tatami. He calls these design concepts “metaphysical.” I plan to read Meditations on First Philosophy. I remember Yan Fu, a Chinese pioneer in western learning, who made a great contribution to Modern Chinese legal scholarship and philosophy. It was he who first translated the western word “metaphysical” into the Chinese characters “形而上学”
Having lived in Japan for over a year, I have thought a lot about Professor Richie’s theories about the balance (often the conflict) between society and the individual in Japan.

My apartment is on the 5th floor of a building in Azabu-juban. On the other side of the building is Johnny’s, the most prominent talent agency for Japan’s male stars. I always see female fans waiting for the stars on the street. During my 10 minute walk to school, I can experience some of the Japanese people’s attitudes and spirit.

But even though there are some differences in Japan, I am not a person who minds living in different places. If I love a place, it is because my lover is there.