Welcome to the first page of the News Archive of GhibliWorld.com. The News Archive has been made to make the main news page a bit faster to load. Although the Ghibli news posted over here is less recent, it's worth reading as it contains a lot of exclusive news! Page two of the News Archive can be found over here.

29th of March, EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS OF STUDIO GHIBLI AT TAF 2008: As every year, Studio Ghibli has a booth at the Tokyo International Anime Fair. TAF 2008 is taking place right now and, with a special contribution by none other than Danny Choo for GhibliWorld.com, following are some exclusive photos taken at the Studio Ghibli booth. In specific, the announcement of this summer’s exhibition: Studio Ghibli Layout Designs: Understanding the Secrets of Takahata/Miyazaki Animation at the MOT in Tokyo.

24th of March, KUROSAWA ON GHIBLI IN TWENTY-FIFTH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: The latest summary on Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM had been some time ago, but GhibliWorld.com is back with details on last Sunday’s edition. Though it isn’t up yet, it will eventually be available for download over here.

This week’s guest was movie costume director & designer Kurosawa Kazuko (黒澤和子), daughter of none other than the legendary movie director Kurosawa Akira (黒澤明). Her professional background lists costume work on films like her father’s two final cinematic pieces, together with those of Yamada Yoji (山田洋次), Koizumi Takashi (小泉 堯史) and Kitano Takeshi (北野武). The latest film she worked on is Koizumi's WWII courtroom drama Ashita e no Yuigon (明日への遺言, Best Wishes for Tomorrow), which is currently screening in theaters all over Japan.



Talking about that, Kurosawa Kazuko’s collaboration with Koizumi has quite the background. After Koizumi graduated at Waseda University, he worked as an assistant director of Kurosawa Akira for a long time and is said to be his best pupil. After Kurosawa Akira passed away, Koizumi became a director and directed Ame Agaru (雨あがる, After the Rain) which was written by Kurosawa. Though he has directed only 4 movies, every one of them got good appraisal. For his latest film, today Kazuko just happened to have received an "ooiri bukuro" (大入り袋, full bag) from the movie company, a traditional Japanese show-business custom for when a show is a success. This full-house bonus comes in the form of a specially printed envelope, usually containing a small amount of money and is given away to all related staff. The staff was glad to get the success, but not for the money, because usually the money is very little… 50 or 100 yen.

Suzuki being a big fan of Kurosawa, they logically also talked about the memories of Kurosawa and his movies. Though GhibliWorld.com shares the same opinion and regards the works of Kurosawa very highly, the focus of this summary will lay on the part related to Ghibli.



In his late life Kurosawa liked Miyazaki's movies "quite a lot" (note: Kurosawa died in 1998, aged 88 years old). He first took notice on Lupin III without realizing who had directed it. After that, he watched Nausicaa and Totoro, for which he appreciated Miyazaki very much. Suzuki told, "Miyazaki once got a letter from Kurosawa after we sent our videos to him. The letter read like this: "I watched all of the videos. Of course, Totoro is wonderful, Kiki is also very nice and Nausicaa is needless to say..." These words made Miyazaki very glad. BUT the next words made him confused and disappointed. "But what impressed me the most is Hotaru no Haka (火垂るの墓, Grave of the Fireflies). It’s the greatest movie of all of them. You are really talented!!" Kurosawa mentioned about Hotaru and admired it in long text. Actually, Kurosawa thought all Ghibli films were made by Miyazaki. He didn't know about Takahata…"(laughing). Kazuko told, "Well, I know father's most favorite was Totoro. And he cried when he watched Kiki. But the next day he watched Hotaru, his eyes were terribly swollen of crying."

Suzuki also noted, "While he was alive, we projected a talk with Kurosawa and Miyazaki for a magazine. I remember Miyazaki was very nervous like a young student in front of Kurosawa. But the most surprising thing for me was that Kurosawa seemed to be a person of very fine character." Kasuko joked, "You mean his good physique?" Suzuki, "No. I had never seen such a person mannered very gentle, graceful and confident. I realized that he had made himself fine in the same way he had made his movies: with a big effort. Compared to him, Miyazaki, Takahata or me are very selfish. I always want Miyazaki to become a person with a fine character… but still has a looong way to go..."

22nd of March, A BETTER LOOK AT THE WORLD OF MIYAZAKI’S PONYO: Time to further discover the world of Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea). Of course, like with all of his films, director Miyazaki is sure to yet again create a magical world. But what will it look like? Those in possession the film’s first chirashi (handbill) have already been able to take a look at it… however, a lot of people have not… So what is this talk about? It’s a watercolor that Miyazaki made of his Ponyo world and for the Japanese impaired GhibliWorld.com brings it in a translated version.

Click the picture below for a better look.

16th of March, MIYAZAKI’S INSPIRATION “SNOW QUEEN” TO BE RELEASED ON DVD: Studio Ghibli’s Ghibli Museum Library label is to further expand its library with the DVD release of Lev Atamanov’s Snow Queen (雪の女王, Yuki no Jouou). Earlier this year the Russian animation from 1957 already received a cinematic release and so a disc release was inevitable.

As mentioned earlier on GhibliWorld.com, Snow Queen had a decisive influence on Miyazaki Hayao's career as an animator. "This movie made my destiny and because of this I love it". In 1963 Miyazaki was just a beginning animator at Toei Animation Studio and couldn't agree to the projects he was working on and the projects in plan. He was to abandon his dream to be a manga writer. Luckily, seeing Snow Queen at a screening hosted by the union made him let go of that idea. Miyazaki "decided to continue working on animation with renewed determination".



One of the things worth noting is the origin of Atamanov’s Snow Queen. Just like Ghibli Museum Library’s Ou to Tori, it is based on one of the works of Danish fairy tale novelist Hans Christian Andersen. In addition, one of Andersen’s other works, The Little Mermaid, just so happens to be one of the inspirations for Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea).

Regarding Andersen’s Snow Queen, it has been adapted numerous times. Among these adaptations is not only Lev Atamanov’s animated version, but also 2002’s live-action version starring Bridget Fonda, 2005’s anime version by NHK and TMS Entertainment, and 2006’s Korean live-action adaptation where the original was modified into a modern drama starring Hyun Bin and Sung Yu Ri.

As far as Atamanov’s version of Snow Queen is concerned, it is actually the first time for it to be released in its original form in Japan. The former Japanese version, used for TV and video, was based on the English dub by Universal Studios from 1959. Luckily, for the new release Ghibli Museum Library have used the original Russian version which was earlier limited to film festivals only. One of the results is that it brings the original soundtrack that was composed by A. Ivajan which really manages to accent the drama and brings up fresh emotions. Adding to that, Japan’s most skilled Russian interpreter Kojima Hiroko, who already worked with Studio Ghibli and Yuri Norstein in the past, especially made a new translation for the film’s subtitles.



Starting July 2 Snow Queen will be available on DVD and is up for pre-order now (note: a Blu Ray version will not be released). The official Ghibli Museum Library trailer can be found here.

Snow Queen DVD data:
- Release date: July 2, 2008
- Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
- 1957 / Soviet Union (Russia) / 63 minutes
- Price: 3,990 Yen (including tax), 3,800 Yen (before tax)
- DVD specs: dual layer / NTSC / Region 2 / amaray packaging
- Video: 4:3 aspect ratio
- Audio: Russian, original 2.0 Mono
- Subtitles: Japanese

Bonus features:
- Lev Milchin's Stojkij Olovyannui Soldatik, based on The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen / 1970 / Soviet Union (Russia) / 18 minutes
- Omoi wo Tsuranuku (想いをつらぬく), an interview with Miyazaki Hayao
- Two trailers

14th of March (updated), STUDIO GHIBLI LAYOUT EXHIBITION AT TOKYO'S MOT: Last year’s enormous success of Studio Ghibli’s Ogo Kazuo background art exhibition Oga Kazuo Ten: Ghibli no Eshokunin is getting a continuation. From July 26 till September 28 the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo (MOT) will be the stage of yet another exhibition focused on conveying the charming art of Studio Ghibli.

The exhibition, called Studio Ghibli Layout Designs: Understanding the Secrets of Takahata/Miyazaki Animation, is a joint project between MOT and NTV. With the full cooperation of Studio Ghibli & Ghibli Museum it will have over 1000 layouts from the works of Miyazaki Hayao and Takahata Isao up for display. Though most of these will be layouts originating from Miyazaki’s own hands for films like Nausicaa to his latest movie Ponyo, layouts from pre-Ghibli works of both Miyazaki as Takahata will be viewable as well.

So what are layouts and what is their function? When producing animation, layouts prescribe everything that is to be expressed in the various cuts. Like relative positions, motion of backgrounds and characters, with or without of camerawork and its speed, filming arrangement and so on. Everything is derived from them, like the genga and douga that makes the motion of animation and backgrounds that show the understanding of the world. In other words, they are like the blueprints of anime. Interestingly, the system they form has nowadays become general, but its history is said to go back to 1974 during the production of Takahata & Miyazaki’s Arupusu no Shojo Haiji (アルプスの少女ハイジ, Heidi, Girl of the Alps) where the layout system was first innovated.

Tickets for the exhibition need to be purchased in advance and will be available, just like at the Ghibli Museum, nationwide through Lawson’s Loppi ticket boxes. Furthermore, basic information can be found at the exhibition’s own dedicated website and more details are to be revealed at this year’s Tokyo International Anime Fair 2008 which will be held at the end of this month.

11th of March, INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH TITLE OF MIYAZAKI’S NEW FILM OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED: Currently in the midst of production is Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ). The film, destined to become a masterpiece, had not yet been given an international English title and was earlier literally translated to Ponyo on a Cliff. However, that title can now be erased from everybody's mind.

In the past Studio Ghibli releases were sometimes given quite different titles in English compared to their original Japanese counterparts. Like Takahata Isao’s Omoide Poro Poro (おもひでぽろぽろ), which translates to Memories Like Falling Rain Drops, but was released as Only Yesterday. Or Kondou Yoshifumi’s Mimi wo Sumaseba (耳をすませば), which literally means If You Listen Closely, but was named Whisper of the Heart. And Umi ga Kikoeru (海がきこえる), meaning I Can Hear the Sea, but titled Ocean Waves. However, in the case of Miyazaki’s Ponyo the differences are just slight. Studio Ghibli has officially communicated the international English title of Miyazaki’s new film to the general public, as printed on the film’s chirashi (handbill) which has just been released.

The official English title will be: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.

8th of March, MIYAZAKI AND SUZUKI TALK PONYO: The news on Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff) just keeps expanding. After last week’s interview with Suzuki Toshio, this time the source is Yomiuri’s Sports Hochi and a corresponding podcast revealing new bits and pieces on the latest film of master animation director Miyazaki. We got an illustration of the town where his film takes place and for the first time director Miyazaki gave some comments on his new movie which already attracts attention from all over the world.

"I moved the location of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid to the Japan of today and cut off the Catholic color. It will show an adventure and love of small kids." said Miyazaki. Suzuki added, "It will be a movie kind to the old as well as kids." Miyazaki also told, "This is a story about a fish kid that has a selfish wish to get along with Sousuke, a human boy, and carries out her intention. Meanwhile it is a story about the 5 year old boy Sousuke carrying out his promise."



The location is a small countryside town near the sea - Niura (or Shin-ura, 新浦, the kanji doesn't show a clear pronunciation), added with cute place names like Ponyo ga Hama (ポニョヶ浜, Ponyo beach)" and Kujira-jima (クジラ島, Whale island). In 2004, Miyazaki went to a small town in Seto-nai- kai (瀬戸内海) during their company tour. The town is famous of Sakamoto Ryouma having once stayed there (坂本竜馬, a big hero during Japan’s Bakumatsu period). Miyazaki liked the town so much that he lived there for 2 months and expanded his imagination. The boy's name Sousuke (宗介) comes from the hero's name of Natsume Souseki's novel Mon (夏目漱石, 門) which Miyazaki read during his stay at the town.

Miyazaki gave some further hints, "A small town by the shore and a house on a cliff. There are not many characters. The sea is like a creature. A world where magic appears in unconcern. I animated the sea not as a background, but as a main character." Suzuki told, "Since a few years ago Miyazaki used to say "I want to draw the sea properly and would like to try it again." and he tried a new method."

There is a day-care house for the old next to the nursery where Sousuke stays and it has an important key. Miyazaki said, "A boy and a girl. Love and life. I try to depict those without any hesitation and try to counter the age of nervous disease and angst."

5th of March, GHIBLI MUSEUM REDESIGN…, PONYO IMAGE ALBUM: When wanting to experience the world of Studio Ghibli, one should of course first watch their films. In addition, there is “of course” GhibliWorld.com and another obligated place to visit is the Ghibli Museum (三鷹の森ジブリ美術館, Mitaka no Mori Jiburi Bijutsukan) in Mitaka, Japan. It’s a wonderful place that reveals the works of Studio Ghibli in the best way possible and it has just been redesigned. The official Ghibli Museum website that is… For the Japanese impaired an English version has returned so there is an extra reason to pay their new website a visit.

To sum things up, a noteworthy reminder on today’s official release of the Gake no ue no Ponyo Image Album (崖の上のポニョ イメージアルバム). It contains 10 tracks of image songs/music inspired by the "images" from Ponyo's story- and imageboards. Six of these have been based on the poetry of director Miyazaki Hayao himself. Starting today the album is available at shops all over Japan and of course at Amazon.co.jp.

3rd of March, FOLLOW-UP ON “DETAILS OF TAKAHATA’S NEW FILM REVEALED IN TWENTY- SECOND RADIO GHIBLI”: Yesterday’s 22nd episode of Suzuki Toshio’s radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire contained some highly interesting information on the new film of Studio Ghibli director Takahata Isao. GhibliWorld.com brought its details immediately, however this is not where the story ends. There was more Ghibli to be told. Today it is time for a follow up and honor one of animation’s best animators ever…

Suzuki noted "Ujiie likes and respects Takahata very much. Typically, he changes his delivery when he talks to either Takahata or Miyazaki: chatty when talking to Miyazaki, polite when talking to Takahata. Talking about Takahata, I read the original novel of Hotaru (Hotaru no Haka, 火垂るの墓, Grave of the Fireflies) when I was 18 years old and liked it. When we began Ghibli, I proposed it to Takahata. I projected a double feature of Totoro and Hotaru as Miyazaki and Takahata were both rivals as well as best colleagues and it should have been very attractive."



"In those days, Hara (原徹, Hara Toru) was the president of Studio Ghibli and he opposed me so much. He told me, "It's impossible. You know, theatrical animation needs so much budget, time and staff. In the whole history of animation there isn’t an animation studio that ever made two full length feature films both at a time. Even Toei has never done that. You plan it because you are just amateur!" I replied "Yes, I'm amateur. What's bad about that?""

"Anyway, at last we started the project. In those days, our staff wasn’t that large as it nowadays is. In a flash, Miyazaki sensibly drew most of the staff first and hence Takahata got none. However, Kondou (master animator and director of Whisper of the Heart Kondou Yoshifumi, 近藤喜文, Kon-chan for short) had yet to decide which to choose. In fact, Miyazaki wanted Kon-chan even if he would lose all of his other staff, because only Kon-chan could draw better than Miyazaki!"

"If Kon-chan had joined Totoro, we might have seen different a Totoro. Kon-chan might have been the most skilled animator in long history of Japanese anime, I guess. Miyazaki intended to only do the directing and leave up all of the pictures to Kon-chan. He wanted to try a “real type anime” instead of a “manga type” and thought it could be possible if Kon-chan would join him. However, of course Miyazaki knew Takahata needed Kon-chan as well, so he persuaded Kon-chan everyday. Adding to that, Miyazaki was writing his e-konte (storyboards) and every single day he would deliver copies of the ones he made by post from his house in Tokorozawa (所沢) to Koudou's house in Kiyose (清瀬)."



"Takahata also wanted Kon-chan, though he didn't say anything. Instead of trying to persuade him, Takahata's strategy was that he told nothing to Kondou and gave him unspoken pressure. And so the battle between Miyazaki and Takahata over Kon-chan was on. Miyazaki said to me, "Kon-chan is absolutely necessary to Totoro!", while Takahata told me, "It will be impossible to make Hotaru without Kon-chan!". Kon-chan was confused and asked me which to choose. I decided to give Kon-chan to Takahata because he said "Impossible"."

"On the night I made the decision, I visited Miyazaki's office in Asagaya (阿佐ヶ谷). He was writing the Nausicaa manga at that time. Miyazaki realized it before I told him and said, "I can imagine what you'll say. Kon-chan will join Hotaru, right? OK. I'll enter a hospital tomorrow due to inflammation of the tendon sheath. If I give up Toroto because of Kon- chan, it might be stupid. But if it’s because of my illness, the double featuring with Hotaru will be given up as well!!" The next morning Miyazaki gave me a call and told me "I'm refreshed and feel better this morning. I beat Kon-chan in my dreams. I'll do Totoro without Kon-chan.""

2nd of March, DETAILS OF TAKAHATA’S NEW FILM REVEALED IN TWENTY-SECOND RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Another Sunday has passed on which Suzuki Toshio presented his radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. This time it contained some information that made it extra interesting: Suzuki revealed details on Takahata Isao’s new film. As always it’s available for download (up tomorrow) and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

This week’s guests was TV caster, novel writer and essayist Agawa Sawako (阿川佐和子). Typically, she apologized to Suzuki about her nowadays being into playing golf. Suzuki asked her "Why do you apologize?", to which she replied "I know Ghibli hates golf!"... Suzuki "???". Agawa replied "Ghibli is always on the side of weak people, loves nature and is kind to the environment" (laughing).

So what about her connection to Studio Ghibli? None other than Ghibli staff member Tai Yukari (田居因) happens to be one of her friends. Tai once asked her to write an article and so she visited Studio Ghibli. She found out they were producing Pompoko at that time and, as since her childhood Agawa had a dream of being a voice actor, she asked Suzuki to join. Takahata accepted her wish and casted her as a TV caster. Agawa was a bit disappointed, because she was already a TV caster in real life and actually wanted the role of one of the female tanukis.



Agawa and Suzuki both graduated at one of Tokyo’s most famous universities, Keio University (慶応大学). Back when she was in university, the student movement was booming (most of them were left wing) and she heard a rumor that there was a very beautiful female campus activist. She happened to see the woman activist was agitating and found out she was Agawa's kindergarten classmate. And besides that, she also happened to be a daughter of Ujiie Seiichiro (氏家斎一郎), the chairman of NTV and a big supporter of Ghibli. His name can be found on the ending credits of every Ghibli film.

Suzuki told an interesting episode about Ujiie and Takahata. "Once a month I have talk with Ujiie and he often tells me he wants to see one more Takahata film before he dies (Ujiie was born 1926 and so is now at an age of 81). He told me "It is your responsibility that Takahata-san's film has not been made." and always tells me to make a plan of it (laughing). He says he can't see Takahata's movie without having a special emotion, because even till now Takahata's film have a smell of Marxism."

Note: During his university days Ujiie used to be a member of the Japan Communist Party. The president of Yomiuri, Watanabe Tsuneo, was a member as well and even now they are still colleagues. They both quit JCP before graduating Tokyo University. In addition, ten years after them Takahata was also in Tokyo University.



Agawa asked "Does it mean Takahata's films remind him of his youth?", to which Suzuki replied "Right. The other day Ujiie and Takahata hotly discussed The Brothers Karamazov. Surprisingly, he remembers so many of its content. Anyway, we are planning to base Takahata’s new film on a Japanese lullaby. Japanese lullabies are a bit different from other ones. Usually, in the west a lullaby is for cradling a baby. In contrast to this, Japanese lullabies were usually sung by babysitters to comfort themselves instead of the baby. Back in the old days, babysitters were indentured servants and they were from impoverished villages. In the cradle songs, they sang about their sad circumstances, melancholy or nostalgia for their village. When Ujiie heard this, he instantly began singing Itsuki no Komori-uta from its 1st to 5th verse, using his surprising power of memory." Afterwards Agawa began singing it and asked Suzuki "Please use me for voice acting again!!"

Note: There are 2 types of Japanese lullabies. One is sung by mothers for cradling their babies. These are called komori-uta (子守歌). The other type is sung by babysitters to comfort themselves and are called moriko-uta (守り子歌). These babysitters were almost always servants or slaves. Itsuki-no-komori-uta (五木の子守歌), which was mentioned above, is one of the famous lullabies about Itsuki-village (熊本県), a mountain village in southern Japan (Kumamoto prefecture) well-known for its beautiful nature and its clean river. In old times, when Itsuki was desperately poor, the people had to send their 7-8 year old daughters to the rich families in the city to work as a babysitter. Living far away from home, the young babysitters had to look after the babies all day long. Nowadays, Itsuki isn’t so poor anymore. Though, with the plan to build the Kawabe River Dam, the village will disappear under the flooding water and only the song will remind us to Itsuki village. Suzuki didn't tell if Takahata will really deal with Itsuki-no-komori-uta in specific, though it does give a hint. Following are some of its lyrics:

おどま盆ぎり盆ぎり
盆から先きゃおらんと
盆が早よくりゃ早よもどる
おどま勧進勧進
あん人たちゃよか衆
よか衆ゃよか帯　よか着物

I'll go home at Bon
If Bon comes soon, I can return soon
We are like beggars, but they are the rich
The rich have good sashes and good clothes

Note: Bon festival is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors that takes place in August. Usually, the slaves could have holidays only twice a year: on Bon and New Year's days.

29th of February, AN INTERVIEW WITH EXECUTIVE PRODUCER & FORMER PRESIDENT OF STUDIO GHIBLI SUZUKI TOSHIO REVEALING THE STORY BEHIND PONYO: In the March edition of the Japanese magazine Cut more details behind the story and history of Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff) have been unraveled. The international interview magazine features a highly interesting three page interview with Studio Ghibli producer Suzuki Toshio and logically GhibliWorld.com presents a must-read summary.

Continue reading the interview now…

25th of February, TWENTY-FIRST RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Another Sunday has passed on which Suzuki Toshio presented his radio talk show Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. As always it’s available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

This week’s guests were Nakamura and Yoda. Quite known in Japan, Nakamura Masato (中村正人) is a member of "Dreams come True" (DCT), a 2-person band that tends to use humorous and ambiguous language in their songs. He takes in the position of music writer and base guitar player. The other member, Yoshida Miwa ( 吉田美和), is responsible for writing the lyrics and sings. Anyway, DCT is very popular and during last year’s concert at Tokyo Dome they called a 60,000 person attendance and Suzuki was one of them. This week’s other guest, Yoda, is part of the Yomiuri staff and manages the Ghibli pages of Yomiuri Online: Ghibli wo ippai (ジブリをいっぱい).



During the show Nakamura typically noted the flaws of Ghibli’s music as something he envies. "To us music industry experts the way of Ghibli music is terribly messed up. We are always surprised and amazed by it. For us, we have many kinds of formats and rules on how to handle our music business. We are chained to things like record companies and music publishers. However, in your case you always act freely and are even successful with it. Perhaps it’s because no one chains you. We envy you." Suzuki replied "Well, because we are just amateurs, we don't know any formats or rules!". After listening Nozomi’s demo of the Ponyo’s theme song, Nakamura laughed. "It’s really messed up!!".

They also talked about lack and superflux: The Japanese economy is said to have been in a long depression, though everybody has enough to eat and is even wasting a lot of it. Is it really a depression? Suzuki told "Talking about that, the Japanese movie industry produced a lot of good movies during Japan’s poor period after its WW2 defeat. Good movies don't necessarily need richness and wealth. On a related note, Miyazaki is currently producing Ponyo and it has some Morse code appearing in it. Though nowadays it isn't really used anymore, it is quite useful if we don't have access to internet or other modern forms of communication. By the way, Miyazaki really doesn't like PCs, internet or other digital tools. He is always angry at me for using e-mail."



Furthermore, Nakamura told an interesting episode about the music industry and digital technology. "When I read Miyazaki’s Nausicaa manga I was impressed by a certain scene. In it they use lost high tech mining engines that they can fix and maintain, but can't produce themselves. It didn't feel real when I read it, but nowadays a similar thing is happening around me as well. These days, we often use a sampling technique to record music. We can digitally create any kind of sound, making live drums of strings performances unnecessary. The result is that many young musicians and engineers haven’t heard live drums or strings and don't possess a proper technique to record them. Recording drums sounds isn't easy, but in fact they can't read musical scores either. Miyazaki's forebode came true. Amazing. If we now record live performances, we get many complaints of piano pedal noise, guitar strings rustling or whispering musicians..."

To sum things up, Suzuki also discussed his other guest, Yoda. "Yoda made the Ghibli pages on Yomiuri Online. He didn't get any acceptance from us. Is it possible? The page is hidden at the end of the website. He knows that aged people - like me or Miyazaki - can't handle the internet (laughing). I was surprised to see it for the first time. However, I have no intent to blame him, but instead want to admire him. Newspaper writers used to be so good in the good old days."

This week’s inserted music was DCT's new song Matane! (See you again!). It’s part of the soundtrack of the new theatrical One Piece anime that is up for release this March.

21th of February, COVER ART FOR PONYO IMAGE ALBUM: A noteworthy pointer from our colleagues of the well respected Nausicaa.net. Studio Ghibli’s "home composer" Hisaishi Joe has posted a lovely cover image of the Gake no ue no Ponyo Image Album (崖の上のポニョ イメージアルバム) on the official JoeHisaishi.com website. The cover art features one of Miyazaki Hayao’s imageboards presumably displaying Sosuke’s house on a cliff.

The Gake no ue no Ponyo Image Album contains 10 tracks of image songs/music inspired by the "images" from Ponyo's story- and imageboards. To be more specific, six of them have been based on the poetry of director Miyazaki Hayao himself as well. The album is to be released on March 5 and is up for pre-order at the Japanese division of Amazon.

20th of February, NISSHIN SEIFUN TO SPONSOR GHIBLI MUSEUM LIBRARY: Studio Ghibli is being aided in their quest to promote foreign animation among Japan. As been announced by Ghibli Museum, Nisshin Seifun and Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the core companies of the Nisshin Seifun Group is to co-sponsor Studio Ghibli’s foreign animation distribution label Ghibli Museum Library.

For a period of at least one year Nisshin Flour Milling Inc. will advertise the Ghibli Museum Library movies in newspapers and handle other public- relations operations. The collaboration will start with the sponsoring of Miyazaki & Takahata’s 1972 pre-Ghibli Panda Kopanda (パンダコパンダ, Panda! Go Panda!) which will be re-released together with a dedicated exhibit on March 15. Ghibli Museum curator Nakajima Kiyofumi noted ''Our new enterprise might face tough prospects but there are many good titles.'' and praised Nisshin for their support. Nakajima also mentioned that, when the first year of their contract with Nisshin is over, Ghibli Museum will very possibly extend the term.

19th of February, MIYAZAKI & TAKAHATA ON BLU RAY, NINETEENTH & TWENTIETH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Good news from Japan. Starting from July 25 two of Miyazaki’s & Takahata pre-Ghibli pieces will viewable in Full HD. Both Miyazaki’s Meitantei Houmuzu Gekijouban (劇場版 名探偵ホームズ, Sherlock Hound Theatrical Release) from 1984 and Takahata’s theatrical release of Jarinko Chie (じゃりン子チエ 劇場版, Chie the Brat) from 1981 have been given a new High Definition Telecine transfer and will be released on Blu Ray with a mono PCM-track, together with a 16-page full color booklet. Though subtitles have not been confirmed, presumably these will be left out like with the earlier corresponding DVD releases. Anyway, pre-orders are already up over here and here.

In addition, one might also want to order the new release of Miyazaki Hayao’s unmissable pre-Ghibli Mirai Shonen Konan (未来少年コナン, Future Boy Conan) that was released last month: Mirai Shonen Konan 30th Anniversary Memorial Box. It can be seen up close over here.



Last Sunday Suzuki Toshio presented another episode of his show Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. As always it’s available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

This week’s guests was Nakazawa Shinichi (中沢新一), a famous religion scholar who in 2007 wrote a long article for the Gedo wo Yomu booklet for which he also handled the editing. Together with Suzuki he talked about various philosophic and religious subjects. One of them related to one of Nakazawa’s many relatives famous for their academic side. In this case it was about his uncle Amino Yoshihiko (網野善彦), a historian who studied the craftsmen of the Middle Ages of Japan. Nakazawa mentioned that his uncle's work greatly inspired Miyazaki's Mononoke Hime (もののけ姫, Princess Mononoke). He pointed out an interesting thing about Mononoke Hime in the way it tried to depict the opposition between the forest and development of civilization. In ancient Europe and Middle East the development of civilization was built on destroying its forest, though in Southeast Asia and with the Mayas and Aztecs, after the perishing of its ancient civilization, the forests soon recovered. As Japan is a humid place, the opposition between forests and the development of civilization wasn't so serious: the forest could easily recover and so Miyazaki's effort was confusing at this point.



Another thing Nakazawa pointed out was the difference between the West and Asia. In the West’s monotheistic religious world man was created by God, but many Asian ethnic groups claim to have animal ancestors. For example, Japan’s Imperial family's ancestor is the gator and Korean's ancestor is the bear. Suzuki was surprised to hear it, "Gator? Is that right? I didn't know that!"

Furthermore, Suzuki replied on some of Nakazawa’s questions, telling him about the number of Ghibli staff members: 170 for the Studio and 150 for the Museum. As Nakazawa was surprised of so many people working at Ghibli Museum, Suzuki explained about it, but as the show’s narrator disturbed it we can’t tell the details. What we did catch was Suzuki telling about Tokyo’s museums. "There are many public museums in Tokyo’s metro area. However, for many of them it isn't easy to manage them because of the lack of visitors. For example, there is Edo-Tokyo Tatemono-en (江戸東京たてもの園) the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum near Ghibli studio in Koganei, which inspired Spirited Away. Miyazaki and I like it very much and often visit it. The Governor of Tokyo once visited it and liked it very much, but after hearing of its management problems he began to entertain closing it. We hope it will survive."

Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff) was also discussed. - spoiler alert! - Suzuki mentioned some details on the beginning of the story which Miyazaki borrowed from the legend of Urashima Taro (浦島太郎): a fish kid called Ponyo is playing with a Aohata (アヲハタ) jam jar and puts her head in it. She can't get it out and is wriggling at the shore, but Sosuke finds the jar and saves her. Ponyo never forgets his kindness.

To end the program Suzuki asked Nakazawa to write a serial story on Studio Ghibli’s free monthly report magazine Neppu on which Nakazawa replied "sounds interesting.".



In addition, we have a summary for last weeks Ghibli Asemamire as well (download). Its guest was Ishikawa Gen, a children's psychiatrist who long ago, back in Nagoya during 4th grade of elementary school, was Suzuki's classmate. He was a guest on Suzuki’s show as a certain magazine recently featured an article about “Suzuki and an old classmate” and Suzuki asked the editor to choose Ishikawa as the classmate.

Though Suzuki remembered him very well, Ishikawa didn't remember Suzuki at all. Suzuki told that Ishikawa was the boss of the kids and Suzuki was his following and together teased other kids. Ishikawa laughed and replied "If it had been true, I should have seen a psychiatrist. I might have been a damned kid, but I don't remember it at all."

Anyway, Ishikawa is an authority in the field of the autism spectrum disorder called Asperger syndrome. Before he met Suzuki again during the magazine project he had never watched a Studio Ghibli movie, but then he finally watched one movie. It was Totoro and Ishikawa had a related story about one of his kid patients. It was about a 2 year old boy fond of cars and motorbikes for whom his mother had bought a Totoro DVD. The boy liked it and everyday he watched it again and again, to a total of 4 times in a day! Ishikawa asked Suzuki "Do you know Yoko-chan in Totoro?", to which Suzuki replied "No, never heard about her." Ishikawa continued "One day the boy said to her mother "Yoko-chan in Totoro...". As his mom sometimes watched Totoro with the boy she was quite familiar with the details of Totoro. She said to her son "Yoko-chan? You know, there appear 3 girls: Satsuki, Mei and Satsuki's friend Michan... but Yoko-chan doesn't exist!" A few months later, the family was talking about Totoro. The boy had become 3 years old and suddenly said "When Mei got lost, Satsuki was looking for her and met a young man riding a motorbike. Satsuki asked him if he had seen Mei. The young man looked back at his girlfriend on the side-car and asked "Yoko-chan, did you see a little girl?" That was Yoko-chan".



His mom checked the DVD and found out it was true. She realized her little boy was different from normal kids and came to me to consult." Suzuki said "I remember that young girl, but didn't know her name was Yoko-chan…" Ishikawa replied "In a drame normal people never care about these slight matters, but Asperger syndrome patients can't see the whole. They only see the segments." Like in the old Japanese saying: seeing only a tree, but never the forest (木を見て森を見ず). The boy didn't really watch the drama, but only watched the cars, buses and motorbikes. Ishikawa said "Asperger syndrome patients can't read the atmosphere and often get into trouble with people around them. They never cure. They have to realize it and have to go along with it through their entire lives. If the parents try to cure it, it just gets worse." Suzuki and Ishikawa talked some more about psychiatric diseases and psychology, but it was a bit abstract and less connected to Ghibli.

13th of February, PRODUCTION OF MIYAZAKI’S PONYO KEEPS PROGRESSING: From Studio Ghibli comes an update on Miyazaki Hayao’s new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff).

Last week an outsourced Genga-artist, who earlier worked on Gedo Senki (ゲド戦記, Tales from Earthsea) and who’s name includes the kanji 田 ("ta"), visited Studio Ghibli. Though checking Gedo Senki's credits list will not solve the mystery on who he is (as there are many options), there is one thing we can say: he is much demanded on many theatrical anime productions. This was once again proven by the fact that Studio Ghibli offered him to join Ponyo and ever since its production started have negotiated with him. Today Studio Ghibli finally had an arrangement with him. The people at Studio Ghibli look forward to seeing his genga and are eager to see how he will work with Miyazaki. Which isn’t strange. Even though he worked on Ghibli films like Gedo Senki and some shorts in the past, it’s his first time working under Miyazaki. On the moment only 20 cuts for saku-uchi are left and they plan to finish all of it in the week after next. UP is coming soon.

In terms of backgrounds things are pleasently progressing as well. Recently, background art master Oga Kazuo brought the background pictures he painted for Ponyo to Studio Ghibli. It were all of those that were charged on him. This time he painted about 100 cuts centering natural surroundings like the sea, mountains, forests, flowers and clouds. All of them are beautiful and soft and while Yoshida was checking them every time he admired them and went "Wonderful!!". Oga encouraged the main staff and said "I'm really looking forward to seeing the 1st preview!". He left the studio and went away in the snow. His back clearly showed the people at Ghibli that he is really an artisan.

6th of February, ENGLISH INTERVIEW WITH PONYO THEME SONG SINGERS FUJIOKA FUJIMAKI: When giving our readers the latest Studio Ghibli news, GhibliWorld.com doesn’t often rely on English written media… Luckily, Midnight Eye contributor Don Brown (Ryuganji) informs us about an interesting interview on the English version of Yomiuri Shimbun: an interview with Gake no ue no Ponyo theme song singers Fujioka Fujimaki. Read the interview now…

4th of February, NEW UNSEEN PONYO ART BY MIYAZAKI HAYAO: Shining on this month’s edition of Yomy, an extra release for those subscribed to Yomiuri Shimbun, is a never before seen water color & pastel art piece made by Miyazaki Hayao for his new film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff). It’s a picture showing Ponyo at night standing on a boat and logically GhibliWorld.com has an image of it (click to enlarge). Let’s hope Studio Ghibli & Miyazaki Hayao will soon bring the world more of this lovely art!

3rd of February, MORE NEWS ON SUZUKI TOSHIO’S STEPPING DOWN AS STUDIO GHIBLI PRESIDENT, EIGHTEENTH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Last week Suzuki Toshio announced he will be further focusing his work as a producer and stepped down as Studio Ghibli president. Japan’s NTV2 uploaded a 28 minute video of the complete press conference and for the Japanese-impaired GhibliWorld.com brings a summary of what had not yet been mentioned in other Japanese media.

Set at Studio Ghibli Suzuki opened the conference mentioning he would like to tell three things. One of them was about the hardships. "To tell the truth, when we parted from Tokuma and became an independent company, I searched and recruited anyone who could accede the function of Studio Ghibli president. I knew “managing business” would be hard for me, but as I found none to accept I had to become president myself. That’s why this replacement isn't unexpected or strange news. I now realize why all those whom I had asked earlier declined the offer. Maybe they thought it would be hard to go along together with Miyazaki, Takahata and me: 3 selfish bosses."



Suzuki added "Born in 1948, I got old enough, so I therefore once thought of retirement. However, Miyazaki got angry and told me "I'm older than you, you mustn't retire before me." So I'll continue working on making films and made a new post: 取締役プロデューサー (Executive Producer). Now usually presidents want to become a chairman or CEO after they quit as president, but that is something I will never do. I want to make films and to be on site." (Note: Suzuki’s comment shows some sarcasm as the top of NTV is called chairman instead of president.)

Thirdly, Suzuki also explained about why he has chosen Hoshino. "We've known each other since 1991. Back then Disney asked us to let them handle the distribution of Ghibli videos, but our answer was NO. Some years later, we began to get a business relation. I believe that Disney helped us to make Studio Ghibli into a worldwide known film studio. Hoshino was the central figure."

Of course Hoshino himself brought in his side of the story as well. "When I once consulted a person about changing jobs, he advised me three things. First of all: "NO foreign capital" (in the past Hoshino worked on 3 US companies of which one of them was Disney). Second of all: "Work on something related to kids and dreams, just like your job at Disney." Third of all: "You’ve got the age to show your gratitude towards society."."

"I worked at Disney in my 30s and 40s. I'll work at Ghibli in my 50s. The most important difference between these 2 is the following. Walt Disney died long ago and afterwards the company grew big as a global company. However, at Studio Ghibli the founders, Miyazaki and Takahata and Suzuki, are still alive and creating. And now I’ll be able to work with these living legends. It's really great and my most decisive point of joining Studio Ghibli. I think my job is to support creators like Miyazaki and Takahata and Goro. Suzuki has built up a good environment for creating. I must keep it. And I must keep a good a relation with musicians like Hisaishi Joe and promotion companies that always help Ghibli."

With Hoshino obviously motivated, it is interesting to find out what he will bring Studio Ghibli. Despite the huge success of Studio Ghibli’s films, his task might still be hard. Suzuki noted "Honestly speaking, the business management of Studio Ghibli isn't so easy. Business environments are changing along time. For example, video has been replaced by DVD. To tell the truth, I've never made any management programs. For example, we got so much unexpected revenue on 2001 due to the success of Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (千と千尋の神隠し, Spirited Away), but the next year it was almost ZERO. It's impossible to make a single year budget. Usually we make films in a 3 or 4 years cycle. So we have to plan our management program in 3 or 4 years cycle well. However, these are just a simple wild ass guess... Talking about future plans, both Takahata Isao and Miyazaki Goro have plans for new movies…" NTV2 news says these will be released after Ponyo.



To change matters, but remain on the same subject: this week’s Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) also handled Suzuki Toshio’s stepping down as president of Studio Ghibli. As always it will be available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

Logically, new Studio Ghibli president Hoshino Kouji was this week’s guest with whom Suzuki discussed some background stories…

Some time ago the Disney head office in the US had the plan of replacing Disney Japan's president from Japanese to American. Last May this resulted in Hoshino changing jobs from president to chairman. Of course Suzuki got word of it and decided to recruit Hoshino as president of Ghibli. This wasn’t handled quickly though. After receiving the offer Hoshino didn’t get in touch with Suzuki for 3 months. Hoshino was worrying and thought he wasn't suitable for Studio Ghibli. In the meanwhile during that period, an American friend of Suzuki told Suzuki "Hoshino will never come to Studio Ghibli. The salary of a Disney president is so immensely high, you will never be able to pay as much as them. He'll search for other offers at companies that pay more." And yes, the common sense of Suzuki’s American friend was somewhat right: Hoshino had indeed received some other good job offers. However, Suzuki believed that people sometimes don’t base their decision on money and thought that Hoshino would change his mind. Suzuki patiently left things as they were for 3 months. After that, Hoshino gave Suzuki a phone call and visited him at his Renga-ya. Suzuki just asked him in short "Decided?", to which Hoshino replied "YES!".

The new and former Studio Ghibli president also went twenty years back in time. A moment in Suzuki's life in which he stayed and worked at Studio Ghibli during the days and at Tokuma during the evenings. While working hard at both of them, Suzuki thought he had to decide on where to further dedicate himself. It just so happened that around that time Tokuma was planning to start a new magazine for adults and had Suzuki in mind as its chief editor. It was a very attractive offer for him, but basically he would be just a magazine editor and, as he had some ambition, he worried. To make a solid desicion he thought of with whom he could work as a magazine editor. Of course, If he’d choose Ghibli, he could work with Miyazaki. And Miyazaki needed him so much. Hence, Suzuki chose Ghibli and afterwards realized it was indeed the best choice for him.

2nd of February, NEW TAKAHATA ISAO & MIYAZAKI GORO FILMS ANNOUNCED, SUZUKI STEPS DOWN AS STUDIO GHIBLI PRESIDENT: Highly interesting news from Japan. As of February 1 former Walt Disney Japan president Hoshino Kouji (51) has taken over the position of Suzuki Toshio (59) as president of Studio Ghibli. Suzuki, who has been responsible for many hits and has been working on many of Miyazaki’s films since Nausicaa, said "The origin of Ghibli is making theatrical animation. As I’ve been willing to dedicate myself on on-site producing again, I’ve been searching for someone who could undertake the position of president in place of me." Therefore Suzuki will start fully devoting his time as a producer again. He also disclosed that after Miyazaki Hayao’s Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff) the next film is planned to be directed by Takahata Isao and Goro Miyazaki. (Note: As this sentence doesn't show any plural or singular form, it isn’t clear if it means if ONE film or TWO films are to be directed by Takahata and Goro. However, it is assumable both will make a separate film.)



In the past Mr. Hoshino worked at Walt Disney Japan, where he had a relation with Ghibli since 1994. There he handled the video distribution and theatrical releasing of Mononoke Hime all across America. Suzuki chose Hoshino as he wanted a person that was well familiar with Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki welcomes him and said "If he does the job I can do anything I want like always."

In addition, Hoshino told about his intentions "I worked at Disney to give children dreams, so I think it is highly attractive to work with Miyazaki and Takahata. Perhaps the management or business aspect will change, but as a creating group Studio Ghibli will never change. I will keep the environment that Mr. Suzuki has built." Suzuki added "I'm a man who wants to adhere to actual production field. When we got independent from Tokuma back in 2005, I spent so much energy that I couldn't handle even one movie. I realized the limitations of working on both management and production." Besides producing Suzuki will continue his job as board director.

24th of January, MIYAZAKI'S PONYO PROGRESSING AND SIXTEENTH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Miyazaki Hayao’s latest film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff) is further progressing. Since two weeks SAKUGA meetings (key animation meetings) have been held on an everyday basis. After every meeting director Miyazaki mumbles "The rest cuts of meeting are xxxxx...." They can see something in his face... One relief is that he can take a view at completion now and that the loneliness of production is nearing its end. Talking about the end, Ponyo production staff had a meeting about the movie’s ending credits. Because of Miyazaki’s wishes, this time it will be a little different from what is usually done. They don’t want it spoil the image of Ponyo and are planning to make it warm and fun. It’s a kind of trial and error, but the aim is to give the audience a fun and good afterglow.

Last Sunday Studio Ghibi president and producer Suzuki Toshio presented another episode of his show Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. As always it’s available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

This week’s guests were NTV’s Okuda Seiji and Okada Junichi (岡田准一). Of course Okuda was already a guest in previous shows and this time he brought Okada with him. Besides being a member of the popular boy band V6 which belongs to Johnny & Associates (ジャニーズ事務所), he is also an actor, appearing in films like Koreeda Hirokazu’s Hana Yori mo Naho. Those being fond of the works of Studio Ghibli will also know him for his voice acting part from 2006, when he was responsible for Arren's voice in Miyazaki Goro’s Gedo Senki. This time, he acted one of the lead parts in the movie Kage-hinata ni Saku (陰日向に咲く) which is to be released at the end of this week. Okuda is one of its producers.



Recently in Japan, a Japanese kind of stand up comedy called Owarai has been booming a lot. Already starting in the morning till midnight large numbers of Owarai performers occupy the Japanese TV screens. Gekidan-Hitori is one of them and wrote the original best selling novel on which Kage-hinata ni Saku (陰日向に咲く, Blossom in the Shade and Sun) was based (Gekidan-Hitori means "one man theater troupe").

Usually Suzuki is the one asking the questions and spends most of time with a somewhat one-sided talking. However, tonight Okada demanded a turn a of roles. Firstly, Okuda asked Suzuki "Why don't you try producing live-action films? The huge DVD collection on your shelves almost entirely consists out of live-action films." Suzuki "I like them very much and actually prefer them to anime. But it’s only for watching, not making them. Basically, at first I didn't like anime so much, so I could make it for business only." Okuda "So at first you didn't have any vision or spirit for making films? I heard of a legend of your first time meeting Miyazaki. You hung on him for 3 days long. Is it true?" Suzuki "Talking about that story, I was a magazine writer and visited Miyazaki for an interview. At that time he was making Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro (ルパン三世 カリオストロの城, Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro) and unfortunately didn't agree to be interviewed at all. I asked him why, on which he replied "I would be tarnished if my interview would appear in such a cheap magazine!" and he didn’t say anything to me after that. So I set a chair beside him and kept sitting. I declared him I would stay there till he would be willing to talk with me. Three days after he finally started talking to me." Okada "Oh! You are like Toyotomi Hideyoshi!! You must have had some something special with anime, didn't you?" Suzuki "No. It was just my job. And me being frustrated by his words made me behave like that. Anyway, for several months after I stayed beside him day in day out until they finished the movie. He opened up and began talking to me. In those days, Miyazaki was young and every day he began working at 9 am and stopped at 3 am of the next day, so I couldn't do any of my own job." Okada "And what did you think of Cagliostro then? I think it is a masterpiece and it’s one of my big favorites." Suzuki "It was very good, of course. Then, I began to want to work with him. It was not because it was movie industry, but because I felt comfortable around him. After he did Cagliostro he lost his place to make movies and I thought that I should be his producer." Okada "What is your dream for the movies you make?" Suzuki "Now, I only wish we can make movies that I really want to watch." Okada "How about Ponyo?" Suzuki " We watch the rush-films that are brought in every week. Today I also watched one. I have been often excited to see some excellent scenes." Okuda "To tell the truth, I've wanted to do producing of movie some day. So I want to ask you this question. What do you think about that… for you, is a movie producer a creator or a businessman?" Suzuki "Uhmmm…". He couldn't answer.

This weeks’ inserted music was Toki no Uta (時の歌) by Teshima Aoi, a song from Gedo Senki Kashuu, and one of the songs of the Kage-hinata ni Saku soundtrack: Deai no Kakera (出会いのかけら) by Ketsumeishi (ケツメイシ).

18th of January, OGA KAZUO TEN DVD & BLU RAY DISC TWIN PACK REVIEW: Quietly. For a long time that was the way art director and background artist Oga Kazuo worked behind the scenes at Studio Ghibli. Justified, his inconspicuous position changed in the course of time and Oga has become an indispensable part of Studio Ghibli. During the last couple of years he deservingly received “foreground attention” for the moving background art he made. Back in 1996 and 2005 he already released two books: Oga Kazuo Art Collection and Oga Kazuo Art Collection II. In 2006 Oga followed with his directing debut called Taneyamagahara no Yoru (種山ヶ原の夜, The Night of Taneyamagahara) and in the summer of 2007 his work finally received the full attention it had already earned: an exhibition of his work took place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.



Though most animation background art is discarded every day and by many thought to have little value in itself, the art of Studio Ghibli’s image artisan Oga Kazuo has managed to capture the hearts of audiences. Photographs can leave a highly detailed record, but there is much they cannot capture. Like the smell of a breeze and the nostalgia that is “memory”. In that way Oga’s works are different. They have the power to awaken those memories within us. Works that were originally backgrounds and art boards used for scenes in animated films were framed for exhibition which was extremely well visited. So well visited, that there wasn’t enough time and room. Each day the exhibition was thronged with visitors. Over 200,000 people came to see Oga’s “empty” backgrounds at his exhibit that ran for 66 days. So what does one do for the visitors that want to relive it? What does one do for those who weren’t fortunate to visit it?

The answer is simple: release a DVD (Amazon.co.jp, Yesasia.com) and DVD & Blu Ray Disc Twin Pack (Amazon.co.jp, Yesasia.com).

It all starts with a wonderful documentary Oga Kazuo Ten: Ghibli no Eshokunin - The One Who Painted Totoro's Forest which runs for about 72 minutes. While taking its viewers through the exhibition, people like Studio Ghibli president Suzuki Toshio, director Takahata Isao, art directors Takeshige Yoji and Tanaka Naoya, Oga’s mentor Kobayashi Shichiro and of course the background art master Oga himself, enlighten us with their “background stories”. From when Oga was 20 years old and started at Kobayashi Production with almost no training in 1972, till now, when Oga has claimed a important role at Studio Ghibli. In the course of time Oga worked with many directors on a diverse range of background art styles, but of course a very important step was when he decided to join Studio Ghibli...



Like the documentary tells its viewers, Oga began working at Studio Ghibli purely by accident. His first production for Studio Ghibli was Miyazaki Hayao’s My Neighbor Totoro which takes place in the countryside outside Tokyo in the late 50’s. Ghibli was producing Totoro and Hotaru no Haka simultaneously and an art director for Totoro was urgently needed. One day Oga received a call from director Miyazaki Hayao. Studio Ghibli producer and president Suzuki Toshio tells “Miyazaki had a close relationship with an art director named Yamamoto Nizo from whom he’d heard about Oga. Miyazaki assumed Oga would be suitable. Miyazaki has this interesting trait that if he trusts you he assumes he can trust your friend as well.”

Once again proven, the documentary shows Oga did a great job on Totoro. The way he managed to change nature’s face with each change in the light. Depending on the weather and time of day the same place can take on a completely different appearance and Oga brilliantly depicted these changes in mood. Of course the most notable Totoro backgrounds depict nature’s transformation as night falls. As Studio Ghibli president & producer Suzuki Toshio mentions “The aspect of Totoro that impressed me most is the sequence where Satsuki goes looking for Mei. The background convey the passage of time. Without Oga, I doubt that sequence would have worked.”



Ghibli art director Tanaka Naoya puts it extremely well “It’s as if Oga has a kind of special filter that he uses to depict the quality of light. It’s not a naturalistic effect. He extracts the essence of important elements of the scene. Then he augments them to enrich the image. What this does is change the landscape from something familiar to something that feels more like déjà vu. The audience shares the experience with the character.”

Logically, director Takahata Isao was extremely impressed by Oga’s backgrounds for Totoro. He began preparing for Only Yesterday and wanted Oga as his art director. Protagonist Taeko, born and raised in Tokyo, feels drawn to rural Japan and in the present day scenes of the film she goes to visit relatives in Yamagata Prefecture. As Oga is actually a native from Akita, Takahata wanted to use Akita as the setting. But to drive the story, they needed to find a special local product. Something distinctive that would work for animation. After a lot of research and they discovered something that Akita didn’t have anything to rival with: Yamagata’s safflowers. The result ended up in a superb film with stunning backgrounds.

Numerous kinds of other stories, added with the visuals of Oga’s lovely backgrounds that show his keen powers of observation, make Oga Kazuo Ten: Ghibli no Eshokunin - The One Who Painted Totoro's Forest not something to cheer your kids up with, but into a perfectly interesting documentary for those having a higher interest in the films of Studio Ghibli or animation in general.



Other content includes The reason why people are attracted with Kazuo Oga and background paintings of animation, a 40 minutes collection of interviews with director Takahata Isao, art scholar Tsuji Nobuo, Studio Ghibli art department head Tanaka Naoya and animation art director Kobayashi Shichiro. While showing some minor overlap with the Oga Kazuo Ten: Ghibli no Eshokunin - The One Who Painted Totoro's Forest documentary, it offers a more in-depth analysis of Oga Kazuo’s work. Think of director Takahata Isao explaining on the core ideas behind the backgrounds that Oga made for his movies. “We wanted to depict reality, just as it is. To convey the appeal of a real in environment we had to give it a sense of immediacy.” Or art director Tanaka Naoya telling about impressive examples of Oga’s style. “There’s little detail, yet everything feels so real, so pristine.” All in all, an interesting feature telling us from four different perspectives why Oga’s work gives us that desire to keep looking.

In addition, a slideshow “Displaying all 600 works of Kazuo Oga’s exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo” offers us a better look at Oga’s work. This is where Blu-ray customers are being rewarded for taking the next step. Besides the immensely better picture quality that Oga’s work deserves, the slides of the Blu-ray version are presented in full screen size. This instead of the DVD version, where backgrounds are presented in a large black window box. Needless to say, this slideshow is a great feature, though honestly I still prefer taking a look in the book that was for sale at the exhibition.

As with every Studio Ghibli release, viewers are also blessed with a collection of trailers, which this time are the following: Snow Queen trailer, Azur et Asmar trailer, Ghibli Museum Library trailer, Iblard Jikan trailer and Taneyamagahara no Yoru trailer.



That isn’t all, but this is where things get different. DVD customers will have to do with the making of the cover painting of Oga Kazuo Art Collection II (about 20 min). However, those in possession of the Blu-ray disc are again rewarded for taking the next step:
- Kirisame: Kazuo Oga paints a picture is a 24 minutes long feature showing the making of the cover painting for the Blu Ray Disc captured in HD.
- An extended 35 minutes version of the making of the cover painting for Oga Kazuo Art Collection II.

In terms of audio and picture quality there is nothing to complain. The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track isn’t stellar, but perfectly sufficient for the documentaries. In addition, it’s backed up with English subtitles for the Japanese impaired. As far as picture quality is concerned, the DVD will do more then fine. However, if in the possession of a Blu-ray player, then it is highly advised to buy the BD version. As stated earlier, it will not only give a far better picture quality, in terms of content it greatly excels as well (more, better and longer content). And a note for those not living in Japan, US or do not have an imported player: the Blu-ray Disc is region free.

To round up, Oga Kazuo Ten is highly recommended! It does not beat watching an actual Studio Ghibli film, nor is it for everyone, but those wanting to know more about the world of animation, Studio Ghibli and/or Oga Kazuo in specific will not be disappointed.

17th of January, GAKE NO UE NO PONYO UPDATE: Miyazaki Hayao has finally finished the e-conte (storyboard) for his latest film Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff). Studio Ghibli has stated the total added up to 1,138 cuts (his last two films, Hauru no Ugoku Shiro and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, summed up to 1,384 and 1,415 cuts). One week ago Miyazaki pulled back the e-conte, that he once handed out to the staff, in order to make some changes. He completed it and the Ponyo e-conte was finally really finished. The correction wasn't that much so Ghibli production staff got "easy".

Now that Miyazaki has finished his e-conte, he can focus himself on checking and he will able to stay at his desk longer. Therefore not only main staff, but also the SAKUGA staff will be nervous. At the moment SAKUGA and SAKUKAN members even work on national holidays. Starting from the end of January even in-house DOUGA staff must give up national holidays. After checking the schedule, it seems that they will be late reaching the planned target date to finish production, so they acknowledged that must increase the DOUGA pace. "I'm glad that we have an excellent DOUGA staff, they all accepted giving up national holidays."



Yesterday Yomiuri Shimbun posted an interview with the singers of Ponyo’s theme song: Fujioka-Fujimaki and Ohashi Nozomi. Though it did not contain many new details, some small excerpts are all always worth sharing.

Q: What was the trigger to sing the theme song?
Fujimaki “Basically it was planned that only Nozomi would have sung and so the demo was made in that way. However, Miyazaki listened to it and got the idea that a father and his daughter should sing it together. As we’re familiar with that and have a business relation with Studio Ghibli they asked us to try singing it tentative. It was just tentative, so we tried it at ease. Then Miyazki and Suzuki began to say "That singing is all right".”

Q: Were you surprised?
Fujimaki “We said "You should think more serious!!" They said "Your bad singing is rather good".”

Q: And did you accept the situation?
Fujioka “We thought it was a surprising and interesting idea to have it sung by amateurs, even if it wasn't ourselves. Even now we wonder if this is OK.”

Q: What was the way you started Fujioka-Fujimaki?
“When we were students we formed a band called the "Mari-chans". After graduation, we got jobs. One at a record company, the other at an advertising agency, so we hadn't played at all for a long time. A live house owner once asked us to play at his place because he remembered the "Mari-chans". So we played and had a lot of fun and we began making music again. We have no big aim. We don't want to be professionals. It is just our hobby.”



Q: Nozomi-san, what do you think of these two men?
Nozomi “I think they are very kind. I got glad when I heard someone would join me in singing, since I had felt lonely when it was only just me. I like this song very much. It's so cute. My father is also pleased.”

Q: Nozomi-san, do you have any request for the two men?
Nozomi “They often mess up. I hope they make no mistakes in singing.” Fujimaki “OK. We'll try to do so.” Fujioka “I would like this song to be sung by parents and children together. It's wonderful that there is a song which fathers can sing with their daughters. When my daughter was small I used to sing songs like "Tondetta-Banana" with her.”

14th of January, FIFTEENTH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Episode number fifteen has been reached. Like every Sunday, yesterday it was time for a new episode of Suzuki Toshio’s Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. Of course it’s available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

This week’s guests are part of the advertising staffs of JAL (Japan Air Lines): chief Itaya Shin-ichi, Shishikura Yukio and Furukawa Noriko (Furukawa used to be an employee at NTV and later on worked with Studio Ghibli). They brought some sets of "de sky" air food, like UDON de sky, Soba de sky and Curry de sky. It's a kind of pun, as UDON de sky (うどんですかい) sounds like the Japanese phrase for "Would you like udon?". They are provided as air meal on JAL's flights and are sold on internet by JAL as well. Some time ago Suzuki stocked a large amount of "UDON de sky", but Okuda ate all of them during new years days.



As mentioned earlier on GhibliWorld.com, JAL is currently having their Sora wo Tobu (Flying sky project) campaign for its new Boeing 787 airplanes and choose Ghibli as a partner because it has a suitable image for it. One of its exclusives is that they are screening Miyazaki's short film Kuso no Sora Tobu Kikai-tachi on some of JAL’s flights. In addition, they are also asking children to submit their painting ideas for the new 787.

As they want children to have dreams, the involved JAL staff asked Suzuki on any ideas or thoughts for this campaign. They brought Suzuki their plans and ideas on which he coldly replied "You'll surely fail if your thoughts are so shallow. Don't have any delusions for kids. Not many kids have much dreams these days. Basically, you don't know much about kids." Furukawa added that "After a 2 hour talk, we got rejection and walked to Koganei Station from Ghibli Studio feeling miserable on a cold twilight time." Suzuki "Ah? Did I say such a rude thing to our important sponsor? Hahaha… Actually, this is the second time having a partnership with JAL. The 1st time was for Kurenai no Buta (紅の豚, Porco Rosso). At that time, we were asked to make a short film that was to be screened on JAL planes. Miyazaki instantly made an e-conte that ended at the moment where Porco saves the kids, but to tell the truth, it wasn't interesting for me. I asked him "Is this all? Why a pig? No explanation?" So he added some more story and expanded it to 40 minutes. It made me realize that it would take too much time and budget for JAL only and that it should be made into a theatrical future."



"I asked him to expand it to 70 minutes at least. Later on we had dinner and a meeting with JAL's executives at our studio. Just before making a toast, Miyazaki stood up and told them "I must dare to say one thing to you." The attendants got nervous and listened to Miyazaki telling them "Before engagement you should consider well that in this film the airplanes MUST fall in the sea. Is it OK?" We couldn't have a toast."

That wasn’t all. The title also confused them. "Why does our first movie feature a swine?" was their question. In those days, JAL was considered to be one of the smartest companies in Japan (note: though nowadays, honestly speaking, it has some business difficulties). The staff that was in charge those days brought back the title and researched the reaction of their female staff. They got good impressions like "This Kurenai no Uta is nice. It's romantic (Uta means song)." Of course they misheard that it was actually Kurenai no Buta (Buta means pig).



"So I tried to remove the swine from the movie poster and used the picture that was pinned on the wall of Gina's room: 5 young guys in front of a plane with Marco's face vanished. However, Miyazaki got angry and told me "The hero must be the PIG. He painted another picture which clearly showed Porco's face (note: probably the second Porco Rosso movie poster that features Porco with a hat together with Gina). The staff brought it back to JAL and the women over there were shocked "Oh, no. It's really a pig!!" After completing Porco, we had a preview with JAL executives. JAL President Toshimitsu watched it and was very much pleased."

Itaya mentioned "We are showing the replica of the Alcione at the reception of our head office building. It is popular with our visitors." Suzuki "Miyazaki is pleased to hear JAL is displaying it for a year long and that people can enjoy seeing it. It was originally made for Ghibli Museum and exhibited for a year. We worried where to store such a large thing after the exhibition." Itaya "Our young mechanic staffs saw it and got interested in old planes. They say they will try to build the Wright brothers' airplane." Suzuki "I hope it will fly!"

This week’s inserted music was Kato Tokiko's "Toki niha Mukashi no Hanashi wo" (Once in a While, Talk of the Old Days) - Porco Rosso’s lovely ending song.

10th of January, NEW MIYAZAKI INTERVIEW ON PONYO: Tuesday Yomiuri Shimbun released an interview with Miyazaki in which he told about Ponyo, today we bring a translation for the Japanese impaired…

Four years after Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (ハウルの動く城, Howl’s Moving Castle) Miyazaki Hayao tackled the production of Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff). Directing to release it this summer, Miyazaki Hayao is being absorbed by his work. We asked him about his thoughts and message to the children.



"We will make its screen simple. But though we will try to make it simple, it will take thousands of man-hours." - declared Miyazaki at the start of production

Up till now Miyazaki and the Studio Ghibli staff pursued elaborateness. This time they threw that style away. "The number of SAKUGA will be unprecedented!" said Miyazaki, daring to try and use hand drawings in an age in which CG can draw so much in a short amount of time. "I always tell my staff that if they don't like to draw by hand deliberately, then they should give up animation. It's easy to distinguish if pictures are drawn by machines or human hands. If we give up the tough way, we will lose the richness in our art."

The only content that was disclosed to us: At a seaside town, Ponyo, who wishes to become a human, and a 5 years old boy make a story.

"It a story like Tsuru no Ongaeshi (鶴の恩返し, The Crane’s Repayment) or like one of those stories in which a mountain lord snake comes back as a handsome man. It's a kind of IRUI-KON-IN-TAN (marriage of human and animal)" He might have thought of Hakuja-den (白蛇伝, The Tale of the White Serpent) which gave him a trigger to decide to join the anime industry back in his youth.



This is an attempt to recover the true richness of anime by drawing a simple story with simple lines. "We have pulled on the oars of the sailboat till so far, so we will continue to do that. It's not bad if there exists a ship like that in the world."

Everyday he starts his work at 10:30 am and leaves for home at 10 pm with a net work time of 7 hours at his desk. He feels his enduring strength and concentration power is half of what it was in his 30s or 40s. "Rather than losing sight, I have stiff shoulders and losing concentration power of my optic nerves. When it’s just one day maybe I can force myself till night, but the next day I won’t be able to work suffering from fatigue. That’s why I never continue working after having turned the off switch of my body." "Even if someone offers me to have a rest under the sail mast, I usually tell him to give the oars to me. If one takes the steer, he might want to continue keeping it. It might be an earthly desire rather than creative eagerness." "The world is thrown into confusion more and more. I don't think that animation can keep cheering up those who live in such a world. But I hope I can a little. Maybe it is just one of my selfish desires."

The trigger for Miyazaki setting Ponyo at a seaside town was when he happened to stay at a town near the fronts of Setonaikai-sea (瀬戸内海, Seto Inland Sea) for 2 months. "I saw many tiled roofs. I had seen many kinds of roofing till so far, but they were different from the ones from the Kanto area where I grew up and lived. Only just seeing them was already very interesting. I thought that the OLD means such. The sea was also different from the Pacific Ocean, where waves roll on one after another. Here it was calm. It was interesting. I hadn't thought so, but finally decided to set the location there."



As like in Miyazaki’s former films, the protagonist of the film is a kid. His thoughts for children go deep. "Telling them "GANBARE" (Hold on, Hang on, Stick it out) is not good and smells rat. It doesn't have any persuasive power. I rather wish I can give them a rich day that they’ll remember through their entire lifes. I often think their one day is superior to our one year. An impressive scene like the shadows of a wood brightened by a west sun can represent a scene of one's childhood to remain in his mind – for example. I hope our movie can remain that, even if it's just a little thing."

The lyrics of the theme song’s lyrics have been written by Kondou Katsuya, animation director and father of his 3 year old child. Miyazaki asked him to the lyrics because he is struggling in both caring for small kid and producing the movie which links to this story. The singers are FUJIOKA-FUJIMAKI, representatives of middle aged men, and 8 years old girl Ohashi Nozomi.

7th of January, FOURTEENTH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD: Due to holidays last weeks episode summary was missed, but like every Sunday, yesterday it was time for another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. Of course it’s available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

During this week’s Ghibli Asemamire Suzuki Toshio’s Renga-ya was visited by many guests for New Year's Greetings. NTV director Okuda, Fujioka Fujimaki, movie director Yukisada, Ohta Mistuyo (Ohta Hikaru's wife), actor Yoshioka Hidetaka and Chunichi Dragons coach Ochiai Hiromitsu visited and gathered around a nabe (鍋, a typical Japanese winter party one pot dish).



This year Suzuki is reaching a special Japanese birthday variant called "Kanreki"(還暦). It’s one’s sixtieth birthday when five cycles of the Chinese zodiac have completed and family and relatives celebrate him or her wearing a red vest and red cap. Logically, they talked a bit about it.

In addition, Suzuki told of the old referring to Kurosawa Akira’s movies, mentioning Kurosawa’s portmanteau film based on his actual dreams: Yume (夢, Dream). Suzuki is in particular fond of the dream with the old man at the watermill, Village of the Watermills which featured the famous Ryu Chishu (笠智衆) (and also director Martin Scorsese as Vincent van Gogh). Suzuki told “Ryu Chishu had acted quite some different types of old man, from the ones in Ozu’s (小津安二郎) to Yamada's (山田 洋次) movies. In these movies, the old acted by Ryu are always balanced, calm or lonely, but in Yume he is faithful to his desire. I think it’s a kind of realism. I’d like to be such an old man." Ohta "I like the episode of the fox marriage." Suzuki "Actually, Kurosawa wanted to make each episode into a future length movie. However, as he was getting old and thought he hadn't much time left, he just simply presented those episodes in one movie. His Madadayo is also a story of a bold old man. To tell the truth, I was asked to make a TV commercial at the release of that movie. I inserted a credit "Is this your last film, Mr. Kurosawa?" in it. Of course the expected answer was "Madadayo (Not yet)!". However, people involved with the movie all complained because they thought it was rude to Kurosawa and so the CM wasn't aired. I'm sure Kurosawa didn't see the CM film as I met him just before he died. Kurosawa was a really cool man. The characters appearing in his films are often very serious or strict. I thought he charged himself with things like that." Yukisada "Suzuki really likes old Japanese movies. The great quantity of DVDs on these shelves shows it. I think you know more about old movies than movie critics."



They also talked about "life and death". Fujioka mentioned "In Totoro, the girls haven’t got a shadow in latter half..." Suzuki "Hahaha, like that. Check it again with your video." It is an urban legend that Satsuki and Mei lose their shadow in latter half of My Neighbor Totoro because they are becoming ghosts... Suzuki "Our next movie Ponyo will show another obvious "life and death" theme. It shows the other side world. Someone goes to visit it and meets his deceased mother…”

Ochiai (落合満広) talked his thoughts on managing his baseball team. He is famous for his unique character and management. Ochiai told he has a responsibility to 550,000 fans who share the Dragons' victory. Suzuki agreed and told of his responsibility to many people. During the production of a Studio Ghibli film, 500 people are directly producing, 500 are doing advertising and 500 are working on distribution: a total of 1500 people are being involved!

This week’s inserted music was the ending theme of Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (千と千尋の神隠し, Spirited Away): Itsumo Nando Demo by Kimura Yumi (木村弓).

5th of January, HAYAO MIYAZAKI’S BIRTHDAY, GHIBLI STOPWATCH: Today it’s the 67th birthday of the man who brought us numerous animation masterpieces: Hayao Miyazaki. Being in the midst of making Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff), chances are he won’t take the time to celebrate it properly.

Talking about time, take a look at the stopwatch below… Noticed something special about it? Even though it doesn’t feature a Totoro on its dial plate, it’s a stopwatch said to be especially custom made for Studio Ghibli. The special thing about it, is that one circumgyration of the long hand shows 6 seconds. As for why it doesn’t just display 60 seconds: movies have 24 frames per second. The use of these analog stopwatches is to make it easier to visualise a 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 (12, 8, 6 frames) of a second. So is Miyazaki producing Ponyo with it? No, the “God of Animation” must be able to adjust time without such a watch! ^_^

31st of December - 1st of January (updated), HAPPY NEW YEAR!: Over here it’s still December 31, but in Japan it’s already January 1 2008. Reason enough for GhibliWorld.com to already wish everybody a happy new year! Let’s hope it’ll be a good one. Coming summer we have of course Miyazaki’s latest, Gake no ue no Ponyo (崖の上のポニョ, Ponyo on a Cliff), so 2008 will definitely at least be unforgettable in terms of Ghibli. To finish up, below a scan of this year's new year card as been sent by Studio Ghibli and Ghibli Museum (by Miyazaki Goro) to its relations. In the style of 2008: the year of the rat.

24th of December, TWELFTH RADIO GHIBLI / GHIBLI ASEMAMIRE BROADCAST + DOWNLOAD, GOODIES TO GET UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE: Like every Sunday, yesterday it was time for another episode of Suzuki Toshio’s Ghibli Asemamire (Radio Ghibli) at Tokyo FM. Of course it’s available for download and GhibliWorld.com is providing a summary.

This week's guests were Kawahito Kenichi, Harada Yasuhisa and Yoshiike Chie of Yomiuri Shimbun’s advertising staff. For those who don’t know, Yomiuri - with a total of about 10,000,000 copies - has the largest newspaper circulation in Japan and, not only being one of the Ghibli Asemamire sponsors, it also has numerous other links with Studio Ghibli. From their weekly Ghibli news reports, to it’s connection to NTV (of which Studio Ghibli is a related company) and of course Ghibli’s lovely Yomiuri Shimbun commercials: Kawaraban-hen (瓦版編) and Dore Dore Hikkoushi-hen (どれどれ引越し編), which headed by Tanabe Osamu (田辺修) was also made into a highly interesting music video for Haigo Meiko’s Dore Dore no Uta (どれどれの唄) (all three can be found on the Ghibli ga Ippai Short Short DVD). Anyway, as you might know Yomiuri Shimbun also has a baseball team (the Yomiuri Giants). As Suzuki is a big fan of Chunichi Dragons and none can keep his mouth shut, today they came to his Renga-ya to try and put a big adhesive bandage over his mouth, but of course couldn't.



This week’s guests brought a list with Yomiuri´s 10 biggest Japanese news items of 2007 and so they talked about those topics. Here’s the top three:
1st: The resignation of prime minister Abe
2nd: The camouflage of food
3rd: The pension problem...

The camouflage of food was exposed in many areas. Like Akafuku, a famous cake maker from Mie prefecture, which falsified its expiry dates for over 30 years. Earlier this month Ghibli diary made a mention of it on December 10: Ghibli staff ate it and told it was very delicious. Yoshiike told “I've been a big fan of Akafuku for 34 years and I can't count how many Akafuku I've eaten. So I was shocked.” Suzuki told “For me it’s been 59 years!! But I'm wondering if it's such a big problem. I asked an American friend about this. He told there are no use-by dates in the USA, only manufacturing dates. None got stomachache by Akafuku or Fujiya (不二家, a big candy and cake maker, famous of its mascot character Peko-chan). Maybe they just thought it was "mottai-nai" (もったいない, mottai-nai is a unique Japanese way of thinking roughly translated as "it is so wasteful that things are not made full use of their value”). When I dropped down food when I was small, my parents told me to eat it because of mottai-nai.” Yoshiike agreed "I also eat it if it's within 5 minutes. It's a 5 minutes rule. Japanese are becoming sticklers for cleanliness too much these days."



Suzuki said "I’d like to say something about smoking as well. Look at the warning on this cigarette package!!" Everyone "Wow. Such a big description!! It's a bit strange that the manufacturer itself makes such a big warning that it might kill the purchaser (laughing)." Suzuki “Japanese have become too strict about smoking recently. We can't even smoke in public streets nowadays. It's too extreme. I read an interesting talk about smoking by Yoro Takeshi and Yamazaki Masakazu. Do you know who’s the first ruler that ordered no-smoking? Surprisingly, it was Hitler and the second was Mussolini. They both didn't like tobacco. So prohibition of tobacco might invite Facism, so I'm smoking to fight for freedom. Ghibli has 3 heavy smokers. Takahata, Miyazaki and me. The power of tobacco has made many Ghibli movies."

This week's music was a song that’s related to the sea just like Ponyo is. It was Umi e Kinasai (海へ来