Studio Ghibli's president says the new film covers his friendship with Miyazaki: INTERVIEW

It's not often that we get the co-founder and current President of Studio Ghibli, Toshio Suzuki visiting our tiny red dot, but the esteemed guest made his appearance yesterday (17 August) at Bugis+, Singapore to reveal the second collection between Studio Ghibli and Uniqlo.

The cheerful Suzuki wore one of Uniqlo's UT shirts with the dust bunny design and the slogan, 'Hey, Let's Go!' and paired it with black trousers and a denim jacket. Thai actor Mario Maurer and emcee Fiona Fussi took turns to interview Suzuki on stage but before that, a string quartet entertained guests with musical hits from Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo, just to name a few.

The second collection launched exclusively at Bugis+ on 17 August and will be available in all stores and online from 21 August onwards.

Suzuki can be counted as a well-known producer in anime history, having his stamp on most of Studio Ghibli's films (some of which have gone on to break Studio Ghibli's box-office records in Japan). As a former journalist for the magazine Comic & Comic and Animage, that was how Suzuki met the animator and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki and they soon form a long, blossoming friendship.

In a group interview, Yahoo Life Singapore met the 74-year-old co-founder up close and found out more about his relationship with Miyazaki, the latest film, The Boy and The Heron, and how he relaxes during his downtime.

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What are Studio Ghibli’s plans to prepare the younger generation in the company to succeed well as there are a lot of legacy animators?

Toshio Suzuki: So to be honest, currently Studio Ghibli doesn't have many of those good animators right now. It’s not just our studio, but the whole of Japan is facing this problem due to a shortage of good talent. Japan’s economy is declining, and I feel it is connected to the animation industry as well. Before this, the whole industry has been growing well, and people became wealthy. But after the decline, people are not wealthy and it became difficult to grow new talents. But I’m not being pessimistic; when the country is poor, that’s the time when the real talent shows up.

So even for Mr. Hayao Miyazaki (sic), when he was young, spent his time growing up living in poverty. So he thinks it’s somehow connected when Mr. Hayao’s talent grew during that period of time.

I believe the younger generation will create a better Japan from now on.

We noticed more studios and fashion collaborations in the past few years. For Studio Ghibli, is there any strategy behind this collaboration with special brands?

Currently, in Studio Ghibli, there are a lot of people who like working with apparel brands, but when they’re gone, I’m not so sure about it after (laughs). For Studio Ghibli, the business objective is, of course, movie production. But since we opened the Ghibli Museum and Ghibli Park, the park really made a big impact on our studio because it’s really, a big theme park and it attracted a lot of people who crave new merchandise. I heard that a lot of people were asking for more merchandise and collaboration, which is why a lot of collaboration is happening.

Miyazaki announced his news of retirement but he came back with a new movie. How would such news affect the Studio's creation of storytelling in the near future?

Mr. Miyazaki is currently 82 years old and his latest movie is currently showing in Japan. The movie became viral, and he actually accumulated confidence once again. He said he would retire, but he really wants to make movies on his own time.

So this is not just in the animation industry but for like any type of industry when the older generation tries to step back (sic), he thinks as long as the older generation has the power to create something, then they should.

As the current President of Studio Ghibli, what would your vision or objective be for Studio Ghibli in the next few years?

First of all, Studio Ghibli is not a company that has a clear vision or working towards it – we were not like that. Every time Miyazaki-san makes a new movie, when it goes viral and it’s a success, he wants another one. So Studio Ghibli doesn’t always have a direction, so we don’t know where to go (laughs).

To be honest, the person who was wishing for the failure of the new movie was Mr. Miyazaki-san’s son Goro (laughs). But the movie succeeded, so Goro-san failed in that sense now.

But back to your question, I’m standing in the middle trying to think if I should create another movie or concentrate more on the Ghibli Park, if I’m being honest.

Hayao-san and Toshio-san, you both are longtime friends, and obviously, you're also entering a business partnership together running the company. I was wondering how the relationship is like between both of you. How do you overcome disagreements and things like that? And who wins the most?

Some of the answers lie in the new film. Watch it, and you will know the answer (laughs).

Oh I see, is it based on the relationship between the boy and the bird?

So I’ve known Mr. Miyazaki for 45 years now and I was impressed that the new film has compressed this 45 years of our relationship into the movie. I was amazed that how much Miyazaki-san has been watching me all these years.

And what was the one surprise you felt when watching this film?

If you watch the movie, you will know how Miyazaki-san reacts when we both have different opinions.

With the recent change in animation styles, were there any works that inspired both you and Miyazaki-san?

So I usually refer to a lot of children’s books and I watched a lot of movies but there are no certain styles that I would refer to. After we create a movie and we were so tired after that, we would go to the hotspring onsen. We would stay overnight at the hotel, and one time I showed Miyazaki-san a movie – who’s not watched a movie in 20 years – he was hesitant to watch it. However, he got shocked after watching the movie, and the first thing he said was, ‘This is not the movie I made!’

It was by the late Federico Fellini. He has been thinking over and over again why I wanted to show him this film. The film is ‘Amarcord’, which is ‘I Remember’ in English.

I thought this director Fellini shares a lot of similarities with Miyazaki-san; I just knew it when I saw this film. After that trip together, Miyazaki-san has been telling a lot of people about this film.

You’ve been in this animation industry for over 35 years. So now if we think back, what is the passion that led you to this industry and after five years, do you have any different interpretation about animation?

There’s only one reason why I joined this industry and that was to create a movie by Miyazaki-san. There was no one who put their hands up to work with him. At that time, I thought I’m the only one who can do it.

There was this movie, ‘Lupin the Third,’ which was a really good movie, but for the sales, it didn’t do well. It’s quite common, not just in Japan but worldwide in the movie industry – if you have one failure with one film, you cannot move forward. So after that movie, his staff and even the investors left him. When everyone left him, I said I will do it.

Why do you have a strong sense about him?

I was originally a magazine editor who met Miyazaki-san through interviews. It was a feeling that it could be about his talent. I had a strong conviction about him, so I quit my job and joined his industry. So if I make it simple, the answer is friendship.

I like to know a little bit about your routine because earlier on, you showed us some games on your phone and I was wondering are there other hobbies you do before you start work or to refresh your mind?

So I talked about onsen earlier on and it’s called Osawa Onsen, and I frequently visit it. It’s my personal favourite place and after we finished the last film, I was able to bring Miyazaki-san there and he was happy about it.

You mentioned you read books. Any specific books or magazines?

In Tokyo, there was an exhibition about me and Studio Ghibli, and the organiser exhibited the books that I have read in the past and it was 8,800 books.

When I looked at the 8,800 books, it was a lot of titles but I like to read novels, poems and older literature. When I was young I read a lot of children’s books and there’s this book, ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ that has a character named Ceddie that I really liked.

It’s your first time in Singapore and what’s your impression of the city?

There are fewer advertisements in the city, and it reminded me of London. Only particular spots have advertisements but I think the government is controlling the amount of advertisements to preserve the scenery. So I think that Singapore and Britain have a long history together and it’s similar. It’s a very beautiful city.

You talked about your long-lasting friendship with Mr. Hayao. I was wondering to commemorate your friendship, what kind of object or animal would you choose to signify this friendship?

Ohhh (pauses) dogs. Both myself and Miyazaki-san are dog lovers. And we’re loyal to each other.