Hayao Miyazaki Press Conference on His Retirement [English]

Well, this is called the official retirement statement. I thought we don't have to say 'official,' but we've already handed you the copy of this official retirement statement. So if you will be able to ask any questions, I am willing to answer any questions. But if I may, I know I've mentioned that I would retire many times in the past, so a lot of you may think 'once again,' but this time I am quite serious. So now on to our producer, Mr. Suzuki.

Well, I can't say anything that cool. If there's another opportunity, I would hope that they would watch the movies that we produced and might feel something. And I would like to keep my word at that point.

I thought those words were very well written. It says that I am free, so I have the freedom to not do anything. But as long as I will be able to drive, I am planning on going to the studio every day and whatever I feel like I want to do, or whatever I can do, I would like to do. But it's a time when I still need to rest and take a break, and I believe that I will be able to find something during the break. But if I make any promise, I will be breaking that. So please give us your understanding on that.

No.

Once you see the film, I think you will be able to understand. So don't be fooled by words. I hope that everyone will be able to go to the theater and enjoy the film. That's my message to the Korean audience. There are numerous viewerships in numerous countries and we appreciate that. At the same time, The Wind Rises—the backdrop of this is in the era when Japan was going into a militaristic era. So even my family and myself and the staff mentioned about that as well, and I've decided to make this film by answering to that. So if you will be able to look at the film, I believe you will be able to understand. Without viewing it once, I don't think that you will be able to have any discussion. So please pay your movie ticket money and I hope that you will be able to go to the theater and enjoy the film.

No.

It's mentioned in this official retirement statement. It took five years since Ponyo to make The Wind Rises, and during that time it's not that I continued to work. I was writing the screenplays or sometimes I was drawing the manga as a hobby, or I was going through the short films for the Ghibli Museum. But it took five years. When I think about the next film, it will take more than five years because of my age. As it says here, next time it might take six years or maybe even seven years. And in three months' time I would be 73 years old, and if it takes seven years from that, then I will be turning 80. I met Mr. Takahata, who was an ex-editor and chief, and he was 83 years old but he was very intelligent still. And I wish that I would be like that when I am 83. That's why I said that I would like to be able to work for another ten years. But I don't think I will be able to work in an extension of what I have been able to do in the past. So I feel now that my days of feature films are done. If I say that I want to, it would almost be like an old man saying something foolish.

I don't really exactly remember. I think I said 'I can't do it anymore' to Mr. Suzuki, and he said 'oh, really.' But I've done that many times actually, so I don't know if Mr. Suzuki trusted me when I said that. When we established Ghibli, it is true that I never had the intention of doing it so long. Many times we've already had discussions about quitting or retiring between the two. This time, the next film may take another seven years, and I think Mr. Suzuki felt that as a reality. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's how I feel myself.

The Ghibli Museum exhibitions, etc.—I would like to be involved in that from now on as well. It might be on a volunteer basis, but I would like to participate in that. Maybe I myself will be exhibited at the museum. So I think it would be best if you would be able to come visit the museum. We would appreciate that.

Well, I was really determined about making the film. I was not thinking about what I would do after that. I was always wondering whether this was worth making—this film. That was more of a pressure to me. That was a bigger issue to me.

Director Norstein—what kind of influence I got from him. Norstein is my friend and it's someone that I would not like to lose again. Well, not quite that, but anyhow he has continued to make works, and I believe that's one way to work. I invited Isao Takahata to join us, and he said 'there's no way,' so he declined. And I feel like Mr. Takahata would be the one that would continue to make works.

Howl's Moving Castle is the one that gives me the strongest image. It's the world of the game, but I tried to make it into a drama. I tried to convert the world of the game into the drama, and I had to struggle a lot. Maybe the starting point was wrong, because I made this plan, so I had to work through it. A lot of the children's literature influenced me in bringing me into this world. There are different types of children's literature, but basically I wanted to convey the message to the children that this life is worth living. And I think that is the basis of doing this work, and that has not changed.

I like Italy. First of all, it's great that there are some chaotic areas included into that as well. And also I have friends there, the food is great, and the women are gorgeous. They might be a bit scary, but still I like Italy. What was the second part of the question? You mentioned about Mr. Takahata and if I would be able to reach him in a ten years' time. I just wish that I would be able to continue to work for another ten years. But if I want to ask for more, I don't know how long Takahata will be around. But Takahata is anyhow ten years ahead of us, and I hope that Takahata will continue to walk in front of me. If I become the director of the Ghibli Museum, rather than welcoming everyone that way, there are many items that are exhibited that are outdated—that need to be reworked. For example, it's fading. I hope that I will be able to work on that, and that's something that I need to work on with my own hands. That's something that I would like to work on if there's time, and that's something that I have always wanted—I felt that I must do, and I would like to be able to do that. The exhibits in the museum are cleaned every day, but it fades as time goes by. It looks like the colors are fading, and if there's something that is glimmering in that faded area, then all of a sudden that portion is going to be revived, and children would be attracted to that area. In order to invigorate the museum, everyone needs to continue to work on bits and pieces of that museum. So that is something that I feel I must do.

As it is written in my official retirement statement, I am free. Whether I do it or not, I am free. I will not spend my brain on that. I've always wanted to do something else. I would like to start doing something else, and that is not animation.

There are tons of things that I was not able to do, but there were reasons why we did not work on those. So there's no way that I would be able to answer that. And what kind of items were there? Because there were reasons why we did not do them. There are so many ideas that pop into my mind as to what would have happened, but that's not something that I should mention publicly.

I have things to do, but if I weren't able to accomplish it, it would be embarrassing. So I will not mention what exactly this is. I don't want to be a cultural person. I just want to be a worker on the factory floor, and I want to continue doing that. I have no intention of wanting to send out any messages. I am not a cultural person.

The idea for The Wind Rises was not influenced by the earthquake nor the nuclear accident. The idea existed there before those incidents. I believe I mentioned it somewhere, but I believe the era caught up and it sped past us while we were making this film. And also when I mentioned about the break or the rest—my rest may not look like a rest or a break from others. When I am not working on something that I like, the work tends to become the rest or a break. If I'm just lying around taking a nap, that's tiring at times. It's a dream—I hope that I will be able to walk on my foot all the way down to Kyoto. But I might not be able to make it. Sometimes I dream of that, and I feel that it cannot be realized.

It's not related.

I must apologize. To work means that I will live a life without watching any film or TV. I only listen to the radio a little bit in the morning, and I do flip through the newspapers, but I look at no media while I'm working. Surprisingly I don't get in touch with any media. So Japan—where is it positioned? I have no idea. I truly don't know. And I will not be able to make any small talk without me knowing it. So I don't have any right to make any comment on that. When you become my age and work at the desk, I believe that you will be able to share what I'm feeling. It's something that I feel I should be able to mention. For example, there will be a couple of films being shown at the studio's film theater. I would be stepping out in the middle, because it is better that I work rather than watching the film to the end. So it might be respectable, but I believe because of myself being that kind of a person, I believe now is the time to take a step away.

Well, it didn't mean to make a declaration for the retirement. I just mentioned that I'll be retiring to my staff. And as a result of that, the producer asked me whether we should be responding to all the requests for press interviews. It would be very difficult if he had to respond to them individually. And I said I should do it at my leisure. But we decided that there were too many press members to fit into the studio, and there was a meeting room that was not big enough for a press conference. So therefore we ended up doing this press conference here. But because we were doing this press conference, we needed some material. That is why we wrote this official retirement statement. And when I showed this to the producer, he said it was good and he suggested that we should take copies. That is why we distributed this. But I had no intention of doing an event like this.

I've never given a thought to that either. Whenever I vote, sometimes I would be reaching a decision point, and I would feel like it was good. And that's it.

France. To be honest, Italian food is tastier for me. At that time of Christmas, I had something to do at Christmas time and went to France. And everywhere I go I was fed with foie gras, and that was quite tough. The lavender was very good. There are many good things about France, but I like Italian food better. It's not a very big problem, I hope. A friend in France asked me to make a film about a French airship. I remember that. That might not be a good idea. France called Grimault—in 1954 there was this film called The King and the Mockingbird, and that gave a strong impact. And Mr. Takahata, who is five years older than me—I think this film gave a significant impact, directed by Paul Grimault. And I have not forgotten anything about that. Even when I watch this film again, his aspiration and the way he creates a world is something that moves me very much. Several movies gave me a trigger that made me become an animator, and the movies that are created by France gave me more impact. Of course there are movies that were created in Italy, but those did not make me feel that I should become an animator.

The toughest—well, the schedule. All of the films, the schedule was the toughest. Also, I've never made any film in which I knew how it would end. Meaning that there were—we started off working on the film without knowing how it would reach its conclusion. So that was tough every single time. That's the only way I can word it. Personally, I felt that if there was any work that we already knew how it ends, then it's not something that I should work on. So that's how I started working on the plannings or the scripts. And with regards to the storyboarding, I was writing the storyboarding like in a newspaper—or maybe not a newspaper, but maybe a monthly magazine periodical. So every single staff had no idea how this film would conclude. And I'm grateful for the perseverance for sticking around with us. I guess that was the toughest part for me. In the one and a half years or the two years' time, thinking about it and continuing to think about it was meaningful for me. Also all of the cuts and the piece of work—when it comes up and while we are going to be working on it, saying that 'this may not work' and 'this may not work'—and going through this discussion will lead to a deeper understanding of the film. With that understanding we'll be able to think about what's going to be happening next. So it wasn't all too productive as a process, but it was a tough process to go through. We would be coming over to the studio, thinking about what would be happening. Out of the 50 years, I don't know how many years were spent like that, but that was my working days.

What was the best thing? Being a director of animation—I never thought it was really good becoming a director. But I always thought it was really worthwhile becoming an animator. An animator—if you know, if you could draw a really simple cut, or if you were able to draw the wind or the way you were expressing the light, if you're able to draw it really well, it makes you happy for two, three days. Even minimum you could be happy for twenty, thirty minutes. But the director needs to wait for the judgment at the end. It's not very good for your health. So at the time of the animator—well, I had always been an animator until the end—but I think this job of being an animator really fit me.

Simple reason. We had Isao Takahata. And it wasn't about the animation. We met at the labor union office, and we've talked for an extended amount of time. And as a result, I don't know how long we spent talking before we started to work, but we talked about so many different topics during that time. It may not be worth talking about this, but the first time we worked together—I believe Heidi was the first work in which I had been able to show my capability as well. At that time we both did not need any discussion at all, because we knew what each other was thinking. When the plan was presented, and if there's going to be a delay in the schedule, we—

With regard to the ending of The Wind Rises, I did talk back to it. The reason for that is there is a girl called Naoko, and right now she is on a pregnancy leave, but she is very intimidating. And when I'm working on other stuff and there is going to be a new piece of notes saying that make it ten minutes, there will be numerous support words all over the studio for me. But we needed to be able to create and finalize the storyboard, so we will not be able to see it to the end. There were numerous pending items, and I had been cornered because I had to deal with all of these pending states in the storyboarding. Even if the storyboarding is done, the line can be changed or dialogue can be changed, and that's why we went through some of these changing processes. The last field where is that? I had a hypothesis that that would be a world that doesn't exist here, and I have a feeling that Captain Jiro has already passed away and is meeting again there. She would be saying, 'Don't be lost and please come over this way.' I got confused when she started to say that, and that's why I decided to go in that direction. By doing that, I believe that it became easier to understand. And I read Dante — I shouldn't have read Dante's Inferno.

I have not come to a conclusion on that or come to a summary on that. I think it would be difficult if I did not do my best, but I always thought that I had done my best. So once it was completed, that was it. And I know what did not work, and that would not go away all of a sudden without any effort. So I tried not looking back. Well, I would not do the same thing over, but people told me that I've done the same thing over and over again. But I always tried not to do the same thing over and over again. Is that answering your question?

When I founded Ghibli, when I think about how Japan, the state of Japan back then — it was a day in which Japan had become an economic country, and 'Japan is number one,' 'Japan has become big,' and everyone was in that happy mood. And I was frustrated about that. And unless I was frustrated, I wouldn't be making Nausicaä and Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Kiki's Delivery Service. Well, the economy might be in its upturn, but what is actually happening? Those are some of my thoughts. The USSR went away in 1985, and the Japanese bubble burst after that as well. I personally thought that there won't be any war, but then Yugoslavia went into conflict. A lot of things changed in the history of the world. There was a time in which we would not be able to make a film as an extension of the past work, and at that time I wanted to be able to make a pig the protagonist. Takahata made a raccoon into a protagonist, and we tried to maneuver our way through. After that we went into a downturn, so the last ten years became the last twenty years. Mr. Hayao mentioned that it is going to become the last twenty-five years. When the economy was in that state, the bubble stuck and created the image of Ghibli. While we were going through struggling, we made Princess Mononoke and other films during this downturn. Up until The Wind Rises, the Japanese situation was going on a downturn, and we were all wondering where we are headed for while we were working on this. But if it goes on too long, maybe it will not work as a hook anymore, and everything might be collapsing. When I talked with Koichi, I truly understood this — everything going down and tumbling. It's not just about my friends, but all of the younger staff that we've been working together, and the children at the nursery next to us — everyone is living next to myself. So I would try to be able to keep my back straight, and I hope that we will be able to live like Mr. Hayao is living.

As I mentioned before, I don't watch current movies that are recently released. Norstein is a friend, andPixar's Lasseter is a friend, and Artman and others are friends. They're not competitors; they're just friends. And I don't watch recent movies at all. I apologize, I really don't watch recent movies, so I can't comment on that. I will be watching Mr. Takahata's film, but it would be very rude to peek, so I try not to peek yet.

I'm sure that people don't watch a lot of films, a lot of TVs, so they may not notice this — maybe they're only watching something that stopped. But I live in — I commute between Saitama and Tokyo, and again, I don't watch film, I don't watch TV. And within my mind, what I remember is — especially for The Wind Rises — the Japanese films during the black-and-white film days, works done maybe before the 1960s, under a dim light, the younger generations and the men and the women striving to make a living. That's what I remember. And when I hear the talent talk of these days, there is a big gap. I am amazed about the lack of presence of the latest ones. Whether it be Steven or Mr. Anno, it's all about the sense of presence. I know it would have been tough for them, but for myself, I thought their voices would fit perfectly. It's not that the other talents were not good. For example, Norstein's voice talent — she became Norstein herself, and I was astonished about her becoming an embodiment of her character. This Wind Rises — it's a Dolby sound, but it's not Dolby, so there won't be any surround sounds. And also the RS, the wow sounds — we're not going to be collecting twenty people or thirty people. The music director, the sound director, said that there were only two people involved. In past films, there was only one microphone for the particular protagonist, so no matter how many people were around them, it did not appear — it ended up in the film. So that's the correct way. When it became twenty-four channels, there were so many voice tracks and it is going to be dispersed all over the place. There might be a lot of information, but the expression itself has become vague because of there being too much. That's why I thought — while I was working on some of the short films for the museum, this was something that I tried and I thought that it can work for a future film as well. Our producer did not hesitate and gave me a green light on that, and I was really happy about that. Also, with regards to the sound directors, they had the same concern and we were able to resolve that by doing this. I don't think that happens frequently — it's rare that it happens, and I was very happy for that. A lot of the people in charge of their own departments — whether it be the backgrounds, or the colors, or the animation checks — there were numerous sections, and everyone at the administration and Mr. Joe Hisaishi, the music composer — there were issues, but still we were all able to feel like everything was completed. In the past ones, there was always something that we felt left undone, but for this one, we felt that we were all satisfied with what we had done. I mentioned that I feel like these are the staff that has gathered for my funeral, but there were many staff that joined us for this film for the first time in twenty or thirty years. But I believe that we have been able to end this experience as something that is very satisfying, and I feel very fortunate for being able to do that.

To be accurate, I weigh 63.2 kilograms. Fifty years ago when I became an animator, I weighed 57 kilograms. The reason why it exceeded 60 kilograms is because I got married and I started eating three times a day. At one point my weight exceeded 70 kilos, and when I see my photo from back then, it looks really ugly — it looks like a pig. In order to make films, I have to watch my health, so I stopped eating outside and I tried to eat a salt breast. I bring a lunch box made by my wife, and I go home and eat dinner at home, but I will not eat rice and just eat the main meal. I realized that that was not hard, and I came to this weight. So I don't know if this was a conspiracy by my wife, but I think this is good. And I am hoping that I can pass away by weighing 57 kilograms — it would be really good if I could go back to my weight at the starting point to pass away. And of course I have a lot of health problems, but there are many people who care about me and they make me do things, so I just follow them. And I think I should be okay. Is that answering your question?

I understand that you mentioned everything. NHK — I believe that was a Chun newspaper — he talked about the constitution, and there were numerous threats over the internet sent to Mr. Suzuki after that. And I'm sure it was a joke, but I said that be careful of your back because you might be stabbed from the back when you're on the train. So if Suzuki is being stopped, I will not be able to ignore that, and I decided that I should talk. On the same note, it would be good if Hosoda is going to be making a comment as well. And if there's going to be three people mentioning this same thing, then it would be difficult for someone against us to target one of them. It seems like someone that sent a threat was arrested, but I don't know about the details.

Mr. Yoshioka that I respect, in his essay in his later years about the Bible — well, he wrote in Ecclesiastes, and there's a word saying in the Old Testament that you need to do your best. It feels like it's rewritten so that even a not-so-capable person like me can understand. I have that book in my hand. When you say ten years, a decade — that was not what I came up with. When you start drawing pictures, you reach your limit when you're thirty-eight, and I thought — so many people pass away when you reach your limit at about thirty-eight years old. And that one was my mentor, and that's why I thought it's about ten years. I started learning drawing pictures when I was eighteen, and that was my image when I mentioned ten years. Before I became a director, animation was peering into the secrets of the world — like the wind, or the movement, or the expressions of the eyesight, or the muscles of the people. In those parts you can feel that the secrets of the world can be felt, and that was the type of job that I was doing. As a result, the work was so profound, and I thought this was worth doing. At some point it started becoming really complex because I had to direct films, but I can recall that decade at that time — I feel that I was really doing my best. It's really worthless or meaningless to mention it now, but for the coming decade, I think it'll go past really quickly. It's been more than ten years since I established my museum — I thought that was only a little while ago — so I think the time will elapse much quicker. That's my view.

First of all, to my wife — I mentioned about this retirement, and I told the staff, and I said that but I need your bento boxes, your lunch box every day like we've always done. And she said she's always been saying that there is no wife that continues to make lunch boxes every day at this age. I don't remember if she said that exactly like that, but that's the sense. I've been reformed to not be able to take eating out. I went to a ramen store the other day and it was so salty — I was surprised. So I've been eating something with less salt these days for the past couple of decades. Anyway, about this 'life worth living' — your second question — there is an English juvenile literature writer, Robert Westall, and in his works there are many things. His work is filled with something that I should think about, what we should think about. He says, 'The world is bonded,' but there's this line: 'To live in this world — you are too good.' And that is not a praise. What they're saying is that if you're like that, you will not be able to survive in this world. And I was moved by that. It's not me that's sending out the message — I'm receiving it. It doesn't have to be literature, but there might be some article or some film that I watched way in the past. I've taken it and received it, so it's not something that I came up with. I've been told that this world is worth living, and people might wonder if it is really true. And I've continued to inherit that type of idea from my predecessor.

We can't make any film trying to include our own message. I think that there is a reason why we're going down this path, but we will not be able to think of it from the beginning. If we try to think of it from the beginning, then we would be lost — we don't have any reason but to be lost. But at the end, we do have to conclude the film. If we don't have to conclude the film, that would be easier, but we must conclude it. Also, no matter how long it will be two hours more or less, so there will be fewer and fewer time limited within this feature film. And so this line, 'we must live' — well, Mr. Suzuki actually took that from the last word of Nausicaä, and he decided to write 'we must live' on the poster. That's bigger than what I wrote. So he made that word. People tend to think that I am the one that's screaming 'we must live,' but it's not really me that's screaming out that message. Including that as well, how we should promote and how it should be promoted on an all-Japan basis — that's Suzuki's job, and he is giving it his all. He's got it all in his hands. So all of a sudden, without me knowing, someone was in Venice. Before that, I believe that I was invited with Mr. Takahata to go to a film festival, and there's another Korean film festival — I know that we've been invited, we've heard about all of that. I've never heard of the Venice until now. And Suzuki is saying, 'Did I really not mention that?' And I've made a comment — you sent out a comment about Venice. You mentioned about Les Halles. Yes, I do like Les Halles. I remember that. Les Halles and Caproni — well, the grandson of Caproni, Gianni Caproni. And he just so happened that when he saw Porco Rosso, the Caproni company — chassis — actually the company history booklet, which included the designs and the construction drawings of the airplanes. And it was a very big, thick book, and I believe there's only one in Japan. This book was sent out from Italy, which was written by his grandfather. In Italian it said that if you like this, I will send this to you. And I did answer back saying thank you very much for this company history book. Initially I thought that I was only able to watch the exterior, but with this book I was able to take a look at the construction of the airplanes. By going through this book, compared to Americans, they were using lumber in terms of the engineering, but what they tried to create — they're trying to do something that was set up by Romans, and that's what I thought. So she's called Gianni Caproni, the designer. If we think of him as a Renaissance man, then I can understand — meaning that there is no economic foundation in order to run an airplane company. He still tried to be able to go, and that is included into the aeronautics history. And that's why I fell in love with Mr. Caproni, and that became one of the triggers to make The Wind Rises. So there were so many accumulations of elements — it's not that I tried to make a film based on the theme that's bubbling in myself. It's all accumulation. For example, one book that was sent out from Italy that happened a long time ago. There were a lot of seeds, different seeds, and as time goes by, it became a material to be made into a film.

I mentioned about the economy booming and then it's becoming sluggish and dragging on. I make it sound like I understand, but there were many times in which I was confused and didn't know where we were headed for. Before Porco Rosso, it was difficult for us to read where the world is heading for, and at that time, it's a very short essay, but there will be something written by him that comes into my hand that I would read through. So I have an intention of directly heading to one way or another, but when I get confused and get lost, and when I read his work, then there he is — always standing firm — and it was amazing. And with that, I was able to reaffirm my position and my standing as well. For example, he might be writing that the nation might be going away, and all of a sudden those all helped me out. I feel like I owe a lot to his work, and I still think so as well.

We made some films once every year in the past — a little bit different, but Nausicaä and Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky — we had an accumulation of a lot of ideas before we started directing. If there was an exit, we were able to release it. But after that, we had to look for the ideas to make a film about, so that is why it started to take longer to make films. And also, at the beginning, Castle of Cagliostro took me four months to make. Of course I put in my all and cut down on my sleep, and if I pushed myself, we were able to make films in four or five months. But at the time, the staff was younger, and there was a group of animators who said that making a feature film would be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and they were really dedicated. But you can't demand them to do the same forever — you get older and you would have your family. There are more people who were asked by their family, 'Are you going to choose the family or the work?' There were some who chose both. Because of that, it started to take longer to make films. At the same time, I can't spend twelve hours or fourteen hours a day drawing pictures anymore. I can only spend seven hours of drawing. Apart from that, I'll be talking or eating, having meetings and doing briefings. Giving instruction is not really part of my work. My work is really about sitting at the desk and drawing, and it's really a matter of how many hours I can spend drawing. When you reach my age, there are many moments where you can't stand it anymore. What I do is just put my pencil down and just go home. I gave up finishing the work I was working on — I just stopped and just gave it up and just went home. But still, I think I really reached my limit, so I think I can't go any further. If you ask me why I don't rely on someone else to do the job — that's not how I do it. If I could rely on someone else to do my job, I would have done it much earlier. When you ask me how it took me five years — during that time I would decide a policy and came up with a plan and came up with a scenario. But still, it took me five years to make this film, The Wind Rises. How I live my life after The Wind Rises — it's really an issue of Japan. This young boy Bo came to visit me. Jiro walks down the hill with Caproni, and this boy mentioned that he was really scared to consider what would be waiting for them at the bottom of the hill. I was very surprised about that kind of comment. I don't know if I answered your question, but that's how I felt.

I didn't expect this many people to join us. Thank you very much for all of your support for an extended amount of time. And this will never happen again. Thank you very much.