Donald Richie, whose earlier works have done so much to introduce Japanese cinema to the West, has here written the first introduction to Japanese film. Written in a highly accessible style, this up-to-date history offers a study of those qualities which make a film distinctly Japanese. It will be an invaluable resource to students of film appreciation, as well as to readers with an interest in Japan.

'Richie...here provides in this intelligent and concisely written little hardback just the sort of useful information about Japanese cultural conventions and filmmaking theories that should, with a bit of reflection, help Western audiences begin to 'see' Japanese films almost as clearly as the Japanese themselves.'--Emipire
'Japanese Cinema fits perfectly into an undergraduate class syllabus.'--Linda Ehrlich, Univ. of Tennessee