Turning Point: 1997-2008

UMEHARA: So you are saying the Jōmon folk engaged in commerce? AMINO: Obsidian for tools was collected under the premise that it would be bartered, and salt was also traded.

MIYAZAKI: I think children have an instinctive perception of the problems of our time, of the problems that lie beneath the surface like a bass harmony. They feel uneasy that they are not blessed, or feel like they are left holding the joker in a game of Old Maid. Nor do the grown-ups give them any clear answers. All the grown-ups can say is things

It would be easy to solve the problems of human beings were we to label those who decimate forests and destroy nature as evil, base, and savage. On the contrary, the tragedy of human beings is that the people who try to push forward the most virtuous parts of humanity end up destroying nature. Unless we look at this aspect of the human experience,

The history of aircraft is mercilessness itself. Despite this, I love stories about aviators. I won’t discuss my reasons as they would seem like justifications. It is most likely because I have a streak of brutality in me. I feel I would suffocate if all I had was my daily life.

At Studio Ghibli, the old main staff is departing, and those in their early thirties will form the new core group. I will also retire from Ghibli and participate from the outside. I’m looking forward to seeing how the staff will react to me as I meddle in their work.

I myself haven’t been able to find any enlightenment, as I live steeped in impatience and irritations.

There are so many illustrated children’s books that I like, making it hard to choose only one. One that I had so much fun reading with children was Takara-sagashi (Treasure-Hunting, Rieko Nakagawa, illustrated by Yuriko Ōmura; Fukuinkan Shoten, 1964).

I didn’t make this film to be a message about the natural environment. In fact, I meant to state my objection to the way environmental issues are treated. That is, I didn’t want to split off the global environment from human beings. I wanted to include the entire world of humans and other living creatures, as well as the global environment, water,

it seems you have been influenced by director Akira Kurosawa. MIYAZAKI: I love director Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Even though I love it, the Japan that he depicts in that film is not the real Japan. My perception of Japanese history is different. That is why I felt I needed to make my own period drama with historical Japan as the setting, and