Yasushi Kawarabata

Our Japanese colleagues inform that our member, the critic Yasushi Kawarabata passed away already in February, 2023.

Born in 1957 in Kumamoto, Japan, Kawarabata joined the Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the nation’s premiere newspapers, upon graduation from Tokyo University. Assigned to review films at the paper in 1964, he continued to wield a powerful pen until his retirement in 1994. He continued to write about film and stayed very active until quite recently. An important member of our club, he served as chairman from 1998 to 2006, and received the Japan Film Pen Club Award in 2017 in recognition for his lifetime as a film writer. He authored one book Travel for the Movies (Eigahe no tabi) and translated many foreign film books, including Maurice Zolotow’s Billy Wilder in Hollywood, Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich’s This is Orson Welles, and Tony Richardson’s Long-distance Runner–A Memoir. Kawarabata is survived by his wife, one son and one daughter.

Atsuko Saito
Japan Film Pen Club