(249) The Great Expatriate

I might not remember when I heard for the first time the word “Japan” but I certainly remember when I read for the first time the word “Asakusa”, the word “Ginza” and hundreds of other exotic names of places and people:  it was in the books of Donald Richie, a man who came to Japan in 1947 and never really left, making Tokyo his home and teaching the rest of the world the culture of this country, especially through its cinema; if you have heard the name “Kurosawa” you owe it to him. It’s a shame that I didn’t get to walk with him in Ueno Park: he left (or, in another sense, stayed for ever in Tokyo) yesterday, aged 88.

(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr)