Published by
Stone Bridge Press
P. O. Box 8208, Berkeley, CA 94707
tel 510-524-8732 • [email protected] • www.stonebridge.com
Text © 2020 Stephen M. Alpert.
Front cover design by Linda Ronan, incorporating an image from Kaze Tachinu (The Wind Rises). Depicted is the character Castorp, modeled on the author (who does not smoke). Image © 2013 Studio Ghibli - NDHDMTK.
All photographs provided by the author. Film images provided by Studio Ghibli; respective copyright notices provided on each.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2023 2022 2021 2020
p-ISBN 978-1-61172-057-0 (paperback)
p-ISBN 978-1-61172-060-0 (casebound)
e-ISBN 978-1-61172-941-2 (e-book)
CONTENTS
Fools Rush In • Tokuma-shacho • Public Speaking
Princess Mononoke • Temporarily Misplaced in Translation • The Circus • The Kiss • Going Public
Minarai (Watch and Learn) • Unrepentant Smokers
You Say Potato I Say Starchy Tuberous Plant from the Perennial Nightshade Solanum Tuberosum L Family • California Dreamin’ • Tequila Sunrise
Space Mountain • Technical Problems • Reality Bites
LA Confidential • Asses in Seats • Goodfellas • Reversible Destiny Pioneers • You’ll Never Work in This Town Again
Doing Business in Korea, Taiwan, and China • Korea • Taiwan • The People’s Republic of China
Blow Not Thine Own Horn • The Golden Bear • The Twilight Zone • The 75th Academy Awards • Oscar
The Rest of the World • Big Girls Don’t Cry • You Know You’re in France When … • We’ll Always Have Paris
Lost in Translation • The Stars Align • For Love (Not Money) • Mixmasters • All’s Well That Ends … (Well?)
INTRODUCTION
Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli was for more than three decades Japan’s best known and most successful creator of hand-drawn feature-length animated motion pictures. Its huge success has been both artistic and commercial. Since its founding in 1984 Ghibli has produced more than twenty feature films, including Spirited Away, winner of an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and a Golden Bear for Best Picture at the Berlin International Film Festival—and the most commercially successful Japanese film ever made. Other Ghibli films, including Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery