50th Anniversary of Donald Richie's The Inland Sea

 50th Anniversary of

Donald Richie's The Inland Sea 

In collaboration with Stone Bridge Press

The Inland Sea (1971), the poetic travelogue by Donald Richie, detailing several months in the late 1960s he spent voyaging amongst the islands and coastal towns of the 瀬戸内海, Japan's inland sea which separates Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, has become an enduring classic for many people. Last month was the 50th Anniversary of the first publication of this famous book that is often considered the finest book on Japan ever written.

Join us in a conversation between writer, editor, lecturer, and author Roland Kelts and translator, filmmaker, and scholar John Nathan, moderated by Peter Grilli, President Emeritus of the Japan Society of Boston, and learn why The Inland Sea is very often the most memorable book one reads about Japan.

This program is brought to you in collaboration with the Stone Bridge Press. A discount for the book will be available to participants.

https://www.stonebridge.com/catalog-2020/The-Inland-Sea

About the Speakers:

 Roland Nozomu Kelts is a Japanese American writer,  editor, lecturer, and the author of Japanamerica:  How Japanese Pop Culture has Invaded the US.  He writes about  contemporary Japan for publications in the US, Japan,  Europe, and Canada, and is a frequent commentator on Japan for CNN, the BBC, and NPR.  A contributing editor of  MONKEY:  New Writing from Japan, he was also a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University.  He is a professor at Waseda University and lives in Tokyo.  

 John Weil Nathan is an American translator, writer,  filmmaker, and scholar.  His translations from Japanese  into English include works of Yukio Mishima,  Kenzaburo Oe, Kobo Abe, and Natsume Soseki.  He is  also an Emmy Award-winning producer, writer, and  director of many films about Japanese culture and  society.  He is currently the Takashima Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  

Peter Grilli first encountered Japan in 1947 at the age of five, and has lived there off and on for nearly half his life as a student, observer, writer, filmmaker, administrator, and participant in Japan-U.S. cultural interactions.  He was President of the Japan Society of Boston from 2000 to 2014.

The Japan Society of Boston's cultural programs in 2021 is made possible by the support of The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and Toshiba International Foundation.

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