Miyazaki criticizes and indulges in nostalgia
December 6, 2008 by Dennis Amith · View Comments
In a recent article by Tom Baker for the Daily Yomiuri, Baker writes about anime director Hayao Miyazaki:
Nostalgia is one of the moods frequently associated with the works of anime director Hayao Miyazaki, but in a lengthy press conference late last month in Tokyo, he showed complex feelings on the subject, sometimes criticizing nostalgia and sometimes appearing to indulge in it.
Miyazaki is the director of animated masterworks such as Kaze no Tani no Naushika (Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, 1984), Tenku no Shiro Laputa (Castle in the Sky, 1986), Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro, 1988), Kurenai no Buta (Porco Rosso, 1992) and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away, 2001).
Some of his films are set in the near or distant past, while others are set in storybook-style fantasy worlds filled with cozy, antique trappings. So it is natural that the topic of nostalgia would come up when the director agreed to take questions at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Miyazaki said he has pondered “which period [of Japan's history] was best…to find out where we should have stopped. And I realized it was not possible to stop. For example, there are people who feel nostalgia about the 30s of the Showa era.”
The Showa era (1926-1989) took in most of the 20th century, but the Showa 30s (1955-1964) have become cherished in popular culture as the end of the postwar era, when Tokyo Tower and the first Shinkansen were built, the nation hosted its first Olympics, and hard-working families strove to obtain the “three sacred treasures” of a television, refrigerator and washing machine.
Miyazaki, 67, remembers the time firsthand. “People have the delusion that things were good in those days. But actually, the fact was that it was a very unhappy period,” he said.
“There was much frustration at that time, and there was a violent impact that people created on the nature of Japan, such as in the seas and in the rivers and in our mountains. Much rubbish was piled upon the environment by us…I recall in my boyhood, friends around me who were not able to attend school or eat properly,” he recalled.
Tags: Anime Related News, Hayao Miyazaki, Miyazaki Hayao, Tom Baker[ANIME] Miyazaki releases first animated film in four years
July 20, 2008 by Dennis Amith · View Comments
Japantoday.com reported, “Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki on Saturday released his first full-length film in four years, dropping computer graphics for his pencil to tell the story of a fish-girl and the sea.”
“Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea,” which the reclusive 67-year-old both wrote and directed, hit screens across Japan after weeks of intense media interest.
“Inspired by the 19th-century fairy tale “The Little Mermaid” by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the story centers around a tiny fish-girl, Ponyo, who rides a jellyfish to escape her home in the sea.”
“She meets a five-year-old human boy, Sosuke, who vows to protect her, but Ponyo is taken back to the sea. Desperate to be a human and live with Sosuke, Ponyo heads to land again with help from her sisters.”
“Miyazaki is one of Japan’s biggest cultural exports. His last film, “Howl’s Moving Castle,” broke opening box office records at home in 2004 before winning a cult following in Western and Asian nations.”
Tags: Hayao Miyazaki, Miyazaki Hayao[JAPAN] President of toy company that makes toys for Mizaki Hayao films convicted of tax evasion
March 23, 2008 by Dennis Amith · View Comments
Mainichi Daily News reported, “Kyoko Okubo, president of Cominica Inc. — a company best-known for making the figurines of characters from the feted anime movies of Oscar-winning director Hayao Miyazaki — has been convicted of tax evasion.”"Okubo, 52, was given a one year sentence, suspended for three years after she was found by the Tokyo District Court to have hidden 198 million yen in income and allowed Cominica to avoid paying 57 million yen in corporate taxes.”
Tags: Cominica Inc., Hayao Miyazaki, Miyazaki Hayao[JAPAN] ‘Totoro’s house’ slated for permanent preservation
February 5, 2008 by Dennis Amith · View Comments
Mainichi Daily News reported, “A 79-year-old home in Tokyo’s Suginami-ku dubbed the “house where Totoro lives” after being praised by Hayao Miyazaki, director of the popular anime film “My Neighbor Totoro,” is set to be preserved.”
“The Suginami Ward Office has decided to make the house, whose future was previously uncertain, part of a park.”
“We want it to be a home that serves as a model of coexistence between humans and greenery,” a ward official said.
Tags: Hayao Miyazaki, Miyazaki Hayao, Tonari no Totoro, Totoro[JAPAN] The music for Miyazaki’s latest film “Gake no Ue no Ponyo”
January 24, 2008 by Dennis Amith · View Comments
Daily Yomiuri’s Saori Kan recently wrote an article on the music for Miyazaki’s upcomign film “Gake no Ue no Ponyo”.
Kan wrote, “Pooonyo, ponyo, ponyo…” The theme song to the upcoming Hayao Miyazaki film Gake no Ue no Ponyo is an earworm if there ever was one–hearing it just once will set the chorus echoing in your head for days, much like last year’s children’s hit “Oshiri Kajiri Mushi.”
“The song, “Gake no Ue no Ponyo” (Yamaha Music Communications Inc.), which was released in December–a full six months ahead of the much awaited animated film’s scheduled summer opening–was performed by 8-year-old actress Nozomi Ohashi and Fujioka Fujimaki, a duo of 55-year-old men who sing songs that focus on the sadness and hardships of middle-aged and older men.”
“With lyrics by Katsuya Kondo, the film’s supervising animator, and contributions by Miyazaki, the music was composed by Joe Hisaishi, who has worked on many of the scores for Miyazaki’s films.”
“The duo’s members are not just making up their lyrics, though: They both hold day jobs, with Takaaki Fujioka working as a freelance music producer after having worked at a major record company, while Naoya Fujimaki is employed by a large advertising agency.”
“I’m still not sure we deserve this opportunity,” Fujimaki tells The Daily Yomiuri. “I’m really sorry for fans of Studio Ghibli,” he says, referring to Miyazaki’s production company.
Tags: Gake no Ue no Ponyo, Miyazaki Hayao, Studio Ghibli
