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Isao Takahata (1935-2018) Tze-Yue Gigi Hu

Isao Takahata (1935-2018) Tze-Yue Gigi Hu

The Japanese Journal of Studies, 2020, vol.21, no.1, 101-109 A Towering Presence and Spirit in Japan’s Postwar Animation: (1935-2018) Tze-yue Gigi Hu

■ A Towering Presence and Spirit in Japan’s Postwar Animation: “Takahata Isao: A Legend in Japanese Animation” Isao Takahata (1935-2018)

Abstract: – that was the title of the exhibition held recently at the National This essay is an expansion of my earlier blog article, “Isao Takahata Museum of Modern Art in from July 2 to October 6, (1935-2018) A Towering Presence in Japan’s Postwar Animation” 2019. on animationstudies 2.0, May 7, 2018. The blog is affiliated with Perhaps this English title was adopted based on reviews the Society for Animation Studies as the editors are members of the of the director’s last animated , Princess Kaguya (2013). society. The blog is an internet space whereby scholars, artists and fans can present their current thought and work in a concise and Descriptive praises of this work included “A visionary tour-deforce” prompt manner. As such, there is limited space to engage at length the and “Legendary Filmmaker”.1) As an outsider, animation studies deeper insights of the subject concerned. Here, I take this opportunity scholar and author, and a non-Japanese, my study of Takahata’s in discussing further my perception of the director’s contributions artistic career considers the corpus of his output including published to the animation medium and the world of storytelling. I revisit the writings, live lectures and his other literary and cultural activities. animated works of Takahata, review and reflect the director’s career in the postwar history of Japan, including anecdotal recollections of Having lived in Japan before and in particular Tokyo where the late my research study and understanding of the his creative spirit. director resided and worked, also aided me in understanding the environmental surroundings and social-cultural nexus of the country 抄録： about which he had cared much. 本稿は、私が以前書いたブログ記事『高畑勲（1935 ～ 2018 年） The towering presence and spirit of Isao Takahata cannot be 戦後アニメーションにおける卓越した存在感』（「アニメーショ overstated. For the shades of merits or demerits, brilliance and ンスタディーズ 2.0」2018 年 5 月 7 日）を発展させたものであ る。このブログはアニメーションスタディーズ協会に属してい darkness, perfections and flaws, overdue deadlines and expansive る。同協会のメンバーが編集者であるためである。ブログは、 production costs, drive and inspiration, the thrive to innovate and 学者、アーティスト、ファンが自らの現在の考えを簡潔かつ迅 experiment, the sensitivity to the reality of life, sounds, voices and 速に発表できるインターネット空間となっている。そのため、 music, the courage to animate difficult stories, extraordinary or 関連する主題について深く洞察するには詳細に取り組むスペー “ordinary” characters and the profound love of nature and so forth スは限られている。この機会を用いてアニメーションメディア .. all these qualities and observations demonstrate the unshakeable とストーリーテリングの世界に対する高畑監督の貢献に対する 私の認識をさらに深めたい。高畑監督のアニメーション映画に position of the director in the social, art and cultural history of Japan 立ち戻り、戦後史における監督の経歴を再検討するが、その in the post-Second World era and up to the contemporary 21st 際、逸話でつづった記憶と彼の創造的な精神についての私の研 century. 究と理解を含んでいる。

Grave of the Fireflies and its First Public Screening in Singapore My first encounter with the director’s work was in the mid- 90s when I was a key organizing member of the first Animation Fiesta (1996) in Singapore. At the fiesta, was first screened publicly in Singapore. As the fiesta was supported by the Singapore government including the support of its cultural

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agency, the National Arts Council (NAC), Grave of the Fireflies comfort women (ianfu); during that time, parents especially feared (1988) gained the attention of a Singaporean audience curious to for their teen daughters and how they could kept them in safety. view a Japan-made animation feature film. Singapore, which war- Distinctly aware of its literary and artistic value, the organizers time Japan romantically named Syonan-to (Light of the South let the film occupy a premier evening slot on the opening day of Island) was historically known as an island city which witnessed the fiesta which was a Saturday as well. The audience nearly filled tens of thousands of killings by the Japanese Imperial which up the prestigious screening of the world-renowned Raffles occupied the place 1940-5. As members of the organizing committee, Hotel which the fiesta was held in. We noticed a number of expatriate I remember a NAC member and I discussed the film’s contents Japanese families came to view the film too besides Singaporeans from an artistic and objective perspective and concluded that it was keen to watch this special screening. After the screening, we were equally important for Singaporeans to empathically understand the approached by some members of the audience sharing with us openly children and youths from the other side of the war who suffered; their feelings of the film. Many were attracted to the spellbinding that is the aggressor Japan too had an impelling story to tell by its visuals and compelling storyline. I remember a feature-writer cum commoner-civilian people. As the film credits rolled on, we noted that reporter of a well-known local Chinese language newspaper, Lianhe the story was based on a published book by award-winning author, zaobao, showed appreciation of the film’s screening and he pondered (1930-2015) and it was adapted into an animated loudly to me. “Do the Japanese know that the peoples in the places story. Both the author and director shared similar experiences of the they invaded suffered horrendously as well? Do they know their war as we read the background story of the film’s production. stories?” Consciously and in a courageous sense, we decided that the The point is the reporter and I both silently agreed that the film film would add diversity and spark dialogue among viewers. In had an illuminating effect on our human consciousness - that is our a mid-1990s wealthy-looking Singapore, real-time experiences, ability to understand and evaluate the story was based on our higher memories, passed on factual stories and official archival records of unrestrained reception of the narrative even though it was literally the cruelties and atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army still held the invaded watching a once invader’s sorrowful story. However, it strong among the old and young generations. The Japanese was not easy to view the film ahistorically, as the obstructive invaded/ operation known as sook ching was an extensive exercise of mass invader’s boundary existed and lurked subconsciously. Strangely, one executions of Chinese males from ages 18-50 and the Chinese, might say that it takes an adversary to comprehend the other. In the Malay, Indian and Eurasian populations of Singapore all felt cold case of Takahata’s achievement, the sheer creative spirit of animating shivers when encountering sights of Chinese males being summoned a painful past is admirable. I think in the minds of Singaporeans who or forcefully taken away on large vehicle trunks – for to see a watched the film that evening, it was revealing to be able to learn Chinese neighbor, friend, colleague or even someone unknown to you the multi-farious ways of storytelling and realize the functional and losing a grandfather, father, uncle, brother or son in broad daylight artistic value of the animating medium. was uncomfortably non-comprehensible and disturbing. It was a trip of no-return for many who boarded the vehicles almost equivalent to Grave of Fireflies, A “Victim’s History”? the Japanese military aviators who sacrificed their lives for In terms of critical analysis, Grave of Fireflies has been negated fatal missions. For women, many were afraid of being taken way as as a form of local grown in response to Japanese personal and

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collective accounts of the Second . At best, it is categorized ex-colleagues whom I have had the chance to talk to in my research as an “anti-war film” much like the film Barefoot Gen (1983), work, all in an affirmative tone commended the late director’s truthful live-action films Burmese Harp (1956) and Fires of the Plain (1959) treatment of the ending as indeed there were countless orphans, lost featuring the sufferings of the protagonists (Napier, 2001: 161-173).2) children and youths seen loitering on the streets of Japan by the end The above categorization is perhaps influenced by a trail of of the Second World War. Creating animation is certainly not just international academia work which is critical of the “victim’s angle” about slapstick , senseless humor or necessarily adopting a which majority of made in Japan’s anti-war films seem to portray. For formulaic delusionary way of ending a narrative with a happy ending. example, research work like Hibakusha Cinema (1996)3) and Atomic Moreover, the original author of the book Akiyuki Nosaka wrote the Bomb Cinema (2002) discuss the complexity of this critical stance semi-autobiographical story to commemorate his younger sister who as foreign audiences confront the storylines of films featuring the did not survive the hardship during the war. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The main argument is In one sense, the “victimhood” is actually the “childhood” of that such films though highlight the sufferings of the Japanese during many Japanese youths and children who either perished during the the Second World War within and outside of Japan (like the Harp of war or who “survived” nevertheless. Unlike Magic Pen (1946) which Burma), they fail to address the “why” and “how” such sufferings was made during the Allied Forces Occupation of Japan where the were “brought upon” especially in view of the country’s “own long ending portrays an orphaned Japanese boy inspired to build a new history of brutal military aggression into other parts of Asia, cruel life for himself,5) Grave of Fireflies endears to pay tribute to the feudalism and oppressive state control..” (Shapiro, 2002: 270)4) forgotten young drifting souls who were unfortunately left uncared So is Grave of Fireflies an anti-war film? A simple “victim’s for even though their bodies were long gone, disposed or once account of war-time suffering”? Manipulatively at a certain discarded on the streets of Japan including common sites like the government level, Barefoot Gen and Grave of Fireflies have been train stations where Japanese people would always head to in their utilized as educational films in Japanese schools to promote the ideas daily transportation routine. of “peace” and “human suffering” in times of war (2002: Thus, the ending sequence of the film which features the 305). It is unknown how these films are presented to Japanese youths, two sibling-souls glancing at a prosperous glimmering night city or, how the students are guided in their viewings and interpretations? landscape of an industrialized high-tech Japan, is the most compelling Comparatively, Barefoot Gen and Grave of Fireflies have been moment of the film narrative as the visuals speak the unspeakable lectured and evaluated in Japanese Studies classes in foreign truths of Japan’s past and present, while the fireflies symbolize the universities courses. Students are also asked to assess their narrative fragility of life in all senses. Indirectly and subtly in an ethnically value and entertainment appeal. Most often, the “no happy ending” of Japanese way, the director is letting the spanning camera and its Grave of Fireflies presents a quagmire of discussion leading to a too filming angles to conclude the narrative, invisibly and implicitly, quick conclusion of the film’s “hopelessness” ending narrative. drawing the audience to ponder and recollect about Japan’s war-time On the contrary, the “no happy ending” of the film does past, memories of what they were and what they have become and reflect the reality of many war-time circumstances and conditions. possibly what they might enact in terms of remembering the souls Moreover, it was a stark reality reflective of a devastated Japan as of the two sibling-characters, virtually existing as lingering soul- people picked up their lives to rebuild the country. Takahata’s Toei’s spirits as they look upon the contemporary busy material life of an

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economically successful Japan. In this sense, Takahata stands tall in his creative achievement and In the film Grave of Fireflies, the nō theatrical effects and demonstrates the greater conscience of a harmonious peaceful wa ( 和) qualities permeate through particularly towards the end as “the Japan.8) moments of non-action, rest, pause, feelings of space and time” are startlingly present including feeling the “silent breath” of the “I was always thinking about what it meant for Japanese protagonist. That is, the nō dimension of the “art of ma” signifies people to make Japanese animation” “what [the actor] does not do is of interest” (Hu, 2010: 34).6) In The organizers of the memorial exhibition did tremendously this case, the director Takahata utilizes visual elements and also well in showcasing the life and work of the late director through the the background sounds of a soulful wind instrument to move the choice of color and sound, tone and manner of exhibit presentation audience to contemplate and recollect. It also brings the audience and salient spotlights of his legacy. One prominent statement that back to the beginning of the film showing the weak corpse-like body stood out was the quote which the organizers used at one point of the dying protagonist Seita and the apparent shite role (protagonist) of the exhibiting space aimed at easing the attendees’ transitional he is playing. In truth, the drawn character of Seita is merely an art understanding of the director’s work as they meandered their way surface, a kind of a hand-drawn mask covering/representing the inner into the floor flow of the exhibition. This quote triggers several essence of the mind and soul of the protagonist. For many children impressions and interpretations of Takahata’s animated works. and youths who “survived” the devastations of the Second World For example, it brings to mind his rendering of seemingly War, there were those who perished without anyone’s knowledge unimportant natural beings like the raccoons and foxes in Pom or even traces of their remains so to speak. Takahata’s personal Poko (1994). These weak downtrodden beings could actually wage experience of the bombings was a well-known story which he a collective war if they wanted to by transforming themselves into continued to write, express and lecture whenever he was called upon human beings in the urban life of modern Tokyo. Drawing from to do so (Takahata, 2015).7) The film validates both an individual’s traditional Japanese folklore beliefs and the Shinto regard for and a people’s recollection of the painful wartime past which cannot nature including deities and spirits – the film is about protecting be easily erasable. In any case, the ending sequence is practically the the environment in the backdrop of growing deforestation and land director’s confrontational individual questioning of Japan’s wartime development. Set in the Tama Hills outside Tokyo, viewers can relate past and the collective responsibility of fascist and militaristic actions to the realistic scenery and location in addition to the comical and that had hurt its own people and others. satirical narrative that follows. Simply, the everyday life of the urban As a descendent of the invaded territories (China and Southeast Japanese is turned topsy turvy by the dissenting and shape-changing Asia) where Japan had committed inexplicable brutalities and caused animals protesting and responding to preserve their natural habitats. widespread loss of lives, personal properties, disrupting and uprooting While the two sibling-characters in Grave of the Fireflies of family ties and ancestral disconnections and so on, I see Grave remained in darkness (apart from the short-lived lights of the floating of Fireflies not just as an animated film made to appease the young fireflies) as the audience came to grips with their realistic ending, Japanese souls (the living or dead) who experienced the inhumane Takahata was forefront in pacifying the souls of the tanuki (raccoons). conditions of war, the stupidities and vanities of an adult geo-political There is one film sequence which shows the appearance of a Buddhist world, but the broader human race who suffered the same as well. ship carrying and sailing away with their sacrificing souls as they

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merrily leave this dukkha (suffering) world to the other shore of a away from a sophisticated multi-layered Disney-influenced kind of dharma realm (in Buddhist sense, another realm-place of existence). cel animation (2010: 27) preferring to experiment yet induce our Though the film has a happy ending as the raccoons are seen as recollection of early 20th century senga-eiga (line drawing film) able to “adapt” to the urban city life like many human Japanese or where the art of line illustration is equally successful in story-telling. metaphorically speaking, those who reconciled to live in the ever- Ideologically, the illustration and artistic direction of the film plus the expanding urban sprawl of Tokyo, there is a short slip-in scene where director’s choice of adapting the Asahi Shimbun’s serialized a transformed raccoon-human character posed to the audience to story by Hisaichi Ishii (1951 - ), underscores his underlying mental spare a thought or two for those other natural beings like the “rabbits, considerations of real-life Japanese families. It can be interpreted badgers” or others which may not have the capabilities to adapt. This that to the director, the existent “average/mundane” issues, problems, scene shows the creative spirit of his animation work – his concern worries, intermittent joys, light-hearted and comical moments of a for his fellow country people and the rigid corporate-institutional Japanese family are worth animating and deemed equally appealing salaried life that many seem resigned to. and endearing to appreciate the characters “alive” on the cinema Only Yesterday (1991) and My Neighbors, the Yamadas (1999) screen.10) featured stories of contemporary Japanese lives. They are devoid of Creatively, the contents of Takahata’s animation champion fantasy elements but reflective of the social-cultural environment the common-folks but it can generate misunderstanding towards in which an average Japanese charts his or her everyday existence. his well-intentions and ability to garner popularity of his animation Takahata made films for Japanese people and especially city making and hence, the box-office returns. The animating medium dwellers, comfortable yet entrapped in the mundane orderly life of is increasingly used for fantastical story-telling and high-tech slick an exemplary corporate, bureaucratic Tokyo. Adapted from a manga 3-D expressions; moreover, general audiences would prefer out story, the former is about an office lady, Taeko, who enjoys spending of the world storylines and ensorcelling visuals where they can be her vacation with a farming family and relives her childhood transported and be sensually entertained. Despite these contemporary yearnings for a vacation home in the countryside. As the setting of trends, Takahata persevered and his creative spirit just would not the film is based on Yamagata Prefecture, the artistic illustration of forsake his life-motto of what it meant for Japanese people to make Japan’s agrarian side is realistically rich. For example, the richness Japanese animation. of colors of the countryside is almost a 3-D experience especially when viewed in a cinema. The furusato (native place) theme lies deep Patronage and Supporter-Readers/Fans of Takahata Animation in the Japanese cultural psyche and the cinematic screen becomes Essentially, it can be said that audiences who are interested a space for all to experience collectively a microcosmic return to a in the Takahata animation world of storytelling are not common native village and community (Hu, 2010: 130).9) “fans” per se in the ordinary sense but more of a group of discerning The latter, My Neighbors, the Yamadas in contrast to Hayao objective supporters attracted to his multi-faceted artistic visions Miyazaki’s directed film, My Neighbor, Totoro (1988), is not about and the overall cognizing appeal of his works. At a major press a fantastical sky-flying creature but features a very much down to conference of Princess Kaguya in 2013, when Takahata was queried earth Japanese family animated in comic-like strip frames with non- on the elongated eight years production length and the staggering realist bland pastel art colors. Obviously, Takahata wanted to steer almost US$50 million production cost, he replied that “money-

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making” was not part of his creative agenda – by that, he implied the spot in recognizing her talent.16) Ms. Kazumi went on to compose that as a director, his role was focused on the artistic visions and and perform the film’s hauntingly beautiful theme song, Inochi no directorial management of the film project.11) Seventeen years before, kioku (When I Remember This Life) following the director’s creative he gave a similar answer in one press interview when asked about direction and specification. It can be said that on the whole, the media the marketing aspects of “his badger dogs” referring to the film, Pom industry benefitted from the multiple-level of services and demands Poko, he replied, “I never think about whether a character is going to that his each fresh directorial project engaged. In that film, Takahata sell products.” (Schilling, 1999: 69)12) also composed a Japanese children’s song, Warabe uta. Both songs It is precisely his artistic career and steadfast revolutionary are popular among foreign audiences.17) approach to making animation that touched a highly influential and wealthy patron the late Ujiie Seiichiro (1926-2011), the former Princess Kaguya (2013) and Prince of the Sun: Hols Great Executive Chairman of Nippon TV Corporation. It was revealed that Adventure (1968) Mr Ujiie “loved Takahata films from the bottom of his heart and he Princess Kaguya is Takahata’s last animated film and covertly, asked Mr. Takahata to make a new film as a gift to take with him into the film is his innately Japanese answer to the range of exquisitely his afterlife.”13) This explains one reason behind the late chairman’s hand-drawn independent animated masterpieces created around the monetary and moral support of Princess Kaguya’s production. world. To name a few, for example, The Man Who Planted Trees a Takahata did not draw professionally, as a director he brought 1987 Canadian film directed by Frédéric Back, Father and Daughter out (and in the process), stimulated and nurtured the talents of (2000) by Dutch animator Michael Dudok de Wit, Tadpoles in Search animators, artists, composers, scriptwriters, voice actors and actresses of Mummy (1960) and Cowherd’s Flute (1963) produced by the etc. as he created. Just for Princess Kaguya alone, one could Shanghai . Many delicate drawn images made up imagine the amount of experience and inspiration the participating these masterpiece films, Princess Kaguya is no exception. However, staff had amassed from the project. Staffs were paid to work and the latter is commercially produced and it is not a short animated learn at the same time; the embracing patron Chairman Ujiie must film by all means. From recognizable narrative scroll emakimono have considered this important legacy that entailed. In addition, the visuals to ukiyo-e block print images, and other traditional and director’s treatment of each animation story contents is different each classic Japanese brush painting-illustrations including the figure- time and often exudes that documentary-like and impartial quality, characters as well - Princess Kaguya is a collective celebration of allowing the viewers to discern the reality as it presented.14) nihonga expressions and his tribute to Japan’s art heritage.18) Work- Takahata was also known for his musical sensibilities. As a wise, the images were communally re-created by his production result, the music found in each of his films was of a different generic team, “every page is drawn with care.”19) Princess Kaguya is also choice and the compositions are original and mesmerizing as he the Japanese version of the much beloved character Heidi, in the worked with a separate musician, performer or composer.15) For World Masterpiece Theater TV anime series, Heidi: Girl of the Alps example, during the production of Princess Kaguya, he highlighted to (1974). Equivalently, she dwells in a carefree picturesque seasonal his colleagues his selection of songwriter and singer, Nikaido Kazumi Japan where the land is abound with nature. The happy-go-lucky as a possible candidate for the film’s theme song production. None child theme-motif continues to reign, as is the age of innocence and of the staff seemed to know of her work but Takahata was right on allusions of childhood memory.

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In reflection, my second encounter with Takahata’s animated work was actually Prince of the Sun: Hols Great Adventure (1968, To conclude, Isao Takahata was a people’s animation hereafter Hols) which happened to be his first animation film as a in Japan (thinking in Chinese， 日本人民动画导演家), his towering full-fledged director. I was fortunate to have viewed it in the 16mm presence in Japan’s postwar animation is astounding as this analysis format at the Japan Foundation’s premises in Tokyo. Hols stands as a shows. Intra-culturally, he had directed a rare puppet theatrical play, foundational milestone in Takahata’s directorial career. Mahoroba no kodama (2000) (translated as “Echoes of the Spiritual Center of the Land)22) which featured unseen spirits and creatures In accordance to the commercial-industrial standard at that that lived within our world.23) The play was re-performed in Tokyo time, the film employed cel-based images with Western adapted (July 18 and 19, 2019) in conjunction with the concurrent memorial characteristics in terms of the character design and art background. exhibition. Takahata’s creative spirit seeps through as the play Though the narrative is set in a faraway western land, the story’s unfolds gradually, momentarily and cinematically. The illuminating contents were layered with Takahata’s personal and his Toei evanescent fireflies’ motif, a visual device incorporated onto the colleagues’ reflections and perceptions of Japan’s war-time past and theatrical stage, imparted another philosophical-aesthetic dimension postwar socio-political developments including world’s events. In to the puppet play ethereally engaging us back to the storytelling a precious interview which I had with the director, he was candidly world of the animated Grave of the Fireflies. The spiritual dimension revealing in stating the clandestine representation of the female of his animation work whether in film or live performance continues protagonist Hilda - that is her complicated character’s qualities to pique our insightful contemplation and critical study. are symbolic of the ongoing geo-political issues in South-east Asia (2002: 23).20) This significant piece of animation is not prominently mentioned in foreign media or research, as it is Notes not part of the late 20th century brand name of Studio Ghilbi and 1) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2 Discs, DVD, 2013). Release Date: 02/17/2015. Universal City, CA: Universal Studios Entertainment. its compilation of works. Yet, this Toei Studio’s animated film 2) Napier, Susan. Anime from Akira to : Experiencing manifested the founding premises of Takahata’s animation career, Contemporary Japanese Animation. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, artistically, ideologically and spiritually. It also marked the beginning 2001. 3) Broderick, Mark. Hibakusha Cinema: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the of the close tutelage relationship between Takahata and Miyazaki Nuclear Image in Japanese Film. London and New York: Kegan Paul in years to come enabling the latter to gain access to a senior-peer International, 1996. directorial mind imbued with rich literary knowledge, artistic and 4) Shapiro, Jerome F. Atomic Bomb Cinema: The Apocalyptic Imagination on Film. New York and London: Routledge, 2002. socio-cultural aspirations of the animation medium. For example, 5) See author’s essay “Animating for ‘Whom’ in the Aftermath of a World one can encounter déjà vu Hols’s images, animated movements and War” in Masao Yokota and Tze-yue G. Hu, Japanese Animation: East a familiar undercurrent narrative arc when watching Miyazaki’s Asian Perspectives (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2013), 123-131. highly acclaimed work, Princess Mononoke made in 1997 (2002: 25). 6) Hu, Tze-yue G. Frames of Anime: Culture and Image-Building. Hong Similarly, Miyazaki’s Totoro figure is reminiscent of the protective Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010. Papapanda figure in Panda Kopanda and Panda Kopanda and the 7) Takahata, Isao. Kimi ga sensō o hoisshinai naraba. Iwanami Booklet No. 942. (Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2015). Rainy-Day Circus (1972 and 1973).21)

The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, 2020, Vol.21, No.1 107 The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, 2020, vol.21, no.1, 101-109 A Towering Presence and Spirit in Japan’s Postwar Animation: Isao Takahata (1935-2018) Tze-yue Gigi Hu

8) In my interview with the director in Tokyo, January 2000 when I was a of the Sun: Hols Great Adventure” in The Japanese Journal of Animation Ph.D student then, Takahata was sensitive and open-minded in pointing Studies, 2002, Vol. 3, No. 2A, pp. 21-6. out Japan’s invasion of mainland China and Southeast Asia. It was 21) In my interview with Takahata (2000), he explained that he created difficult for me to bring out this topic though it was in the back of my this project partly in response to the normalization of China-Japan mind. In a straight forward way, he spoke about how Japan and China relations in 1972 when Japan received two pandas from China. A “Panda were neighbors and he wished both countries could exist harmoniously Boom” erupted in Japan as the pandas were very popular with the despite the regretful acts Japan had committed in the past. It was a telling Japanese public. See also https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20171219/ moment that indicated the director’s factual knowledge of the war and p2a/00m/0na/021000c. Assessed November 6, 2019. his considerations of the invaded lands and the peoples who suffered. 22) Conversation with Waseda University retired Emeritus Professor Kenji 9) op. cit. Iwamoto, July 22, 2019, Tokyo. The word mahoroba is not a common 10) Takahata’s son also mentioned that his father was concerned about word in the Japanese language; I consulted Professor Iwamoto and “ordinary people facing difficulties and ordeals in life”. Interview sought his interpretation and knowledge. with Kosuke Takahata in Tokyo, July 21, 2019 at the aforementioned 23) See www.kawasemiza.com for further information about the puppetry exhibition event held at National Museum of Modern Art. group led by Yoshiya Yamamoto. 11) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya DVD, 2013, op. cit., 2nd disc. See the Press Conference chapter. 12) “Isao Takahata” in Mark Shilling, Contemporary Japanese Film (New Tze-yue Gigi Hu, PhD is an independent educator and scholar- York: Weatherhill, 1999) pp. 68-9. The article was first published in author based in California. Her book publications include Japan Times, April 9, 1996. nd Frames of Anime: Culture and Image-Building (University of Hong 13) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya DVD, 2013, op. cit., 2 disc. See the Press Conference chapter. Related by Yoshio Okubo who took over the Kong Press, 2010), Japanese Animation: East Asian Perspectives presiding producer’s role after the passing of patron Ujiie Seiichiro. (University Press of Mississippi, 2013) and Animating the Spirited: 14) For example, in and Princess Kaguya, there are breastfeeding Journeys and Transformations (UPM, 2020). She was the co-founder of scenes but the visuals are presented in a documentary manner referencing the biological sides of nature. the first Animation Fiesta in Singapore, 1996. Gigi works with grassroots 15) Takahata’s son attested to his father’s enthusiasm for knowledge organizations producing educational programs on East Asian arts and including the subject of music and he would attend various musical cultures in North America and Asia. A board member of the US Collegiate events like opera concerts for example with his wife, Mrs. Takahata. Interview with Kosuke Takahata, op. cit. Taiji Federation (USCTF), she also has a Master of Science Degree in nd 16) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya DVD, 2013, op. cit., 2 disc, Tai Chi from the University of East-West Medicine, Sunnyvale CA and “Isao Takahata and His Tale of the Princess Kaguya: Feature Length provides therapeutic-movement arts classes to local and international Documentary”. 17) Readers may check the internet for their popularity and appeal to communities. foreign audiences. 18) See also a publication by Isao Takahata, Ichimai no e kara (Japan’s edition), Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2009. Apart from his earlier publication, Jūniseiki no animēshon (Koganei: Tokuma Shoten, 1999) which features solely Japanese 12th century narrative picture scrolls, this later book covers his wider study of nihonga including Muromachi Period (A.D.1336 -1573) panel and sliding door visuals, pre and postwar Japanese modern art. 19) The Tale of the Princess Kaguya DVD, 2013, op. cit., 2nd disc. See the Press Conference chapter. 20) Ho (Hu), Gigi Tze Yue. “Usurping the Cinematic Screen – The Prince

108 The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, 2020, Vol.21, No.1 The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, 2020, vol.21, no.1, 101-109

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Isao Takahata giving the opening speech at the JSAS Annual Conference in June 2008, Takahata Isao: A Legend in Japanese Animation, exhibition at the National Museum of Kwansei Gakuin University, Osaka. Image by Tze-yue G. Hu. Modern Art in Tokyo from July 2 to October 6, 2019. Image by Tze-yue G. Hu

The Japanese Journal of Animation Studies, 2020, Vol.21, No.1 109

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