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.”

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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