Textbooks

[Junko Tanaka]

I have a follow-up question that Lawrence Marceau has raised:

>1) Please recommend a good general introductory textbook for a survey
>course such as this. Last time we used Donald Ritchie's _The Films
>of
>Akira Kurosawa_ together with other, more specialized texts (Eros &
>Massacre, etc.). I would appreciate any and all suggestions.

I am taking a historiography class, and am interested in what has and
hasn't been written in the history of Japanese cinema. As Lawrence points
out, it doesn't seem like there is a single "handy" introductory book
available in English (probably not in Japanese either). Especially those of
you who teach Japanese film, which books do you assign to students? What
kinds of books you wish were published? Can a course be conducted without
Anderson and Richie's _The Japanese Film: Art and Industry_ or Burch's _To
the Distant Observer_? Any Japanese-written books worth being translated as
textbooks? I'd appreciate any comments. Thank you!

Junko Tanaka