Turning Point: 1997-2008

The manga format is so readily comprehended that it has become Japanese culture’s common denominator. That is the peril faced by Japanese culture.

Nowadays, when telling old fables, it almost seems as though the old fairy tales have been defanged; it’s almost as if Momotarō the Peach Boy goes to Onigashima Island to destroy the demons, and as soon as he lands the demons surrender. What do you think of this trend? MIYAZAKI: Right after the end of World War II, the old children’s fairy tales—su

MIYAZAKI: A friend of mine from Nagoya says, “Nagoya got rid of alleyways with its city planning. The result is that young people don’t stay there. I was surprised when I came to Tokyo to discover so many narrow alleys that are fun to stroll along.” As I’m used to them, I don’t notice them as much, but alleys seem to provide a psychological retreat

For children only the present instant exists. For that child the present doesn’t exist for the sake of the future.

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).

It may take about five years for critical assessment of this film to be made.

The heroine of this film disavows humanity. She thinks humans are despicable beings. This is an issue relevant to many people who live in this world. They can’t consider humans to be worthy. They are beginning to think that the most despicable creatures on this earth might be human beings. This is something that was unthinkable in the nineteenth ce

The people in the ironworks are kind, but when San breaks in, they become very brutal. They surround her, taunt her, and try to kill her. Yet they are ordinary people. Seeing this, Ashitaka does not denigrate everything about them. Even though they have these traits, he tries to accept them. And he tries somehow to control the power of the curse on

—You have always said that what you want to make is “films” and not “anime.” But what is popular abroad seems to be anime. What do you see as the problem with anime? MIYAZAKI: The major source for Japanese animation is manga, whose greatest characteristic is its method of expression centered on emotions. In order to express emotions, space and time

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