Studio Ghibli – Sharing Japanese Culture with your Kids

Apr 27, 2023

Studio Ghibli – Sharing Japanese Culture with your Kids

With a tradition going back centuries, Japanese animation, known better as anime, is perhaps one of the country’s greatest cultural exports. While you may feel little interest in cartoons outside of Family Guy and The Simpsons, to eschew Japanese anime entirely is to ignore a huge aspect of the nation in which you reside. Furthermore, if you have children here in Japan, anime will be a crucial cultural touchstone for them in school, and surely knowing what your kids are talking about is a wish that most parents have. Of course, there are many different publishers and animators, but perhaps the best known – and by far the most influential – is Studio Ghibli.

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About Studio Ghibli

Founded in 1985 by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki, Ghibli’s first film, “Castle in the Sky,” was released in 1986, becoming a massive commercial success. Since then, the studio has risen to become one of the world’s most acclaimed and commercially successful animation studios, with critics in particular enamored by lead director Miyazaki’s distinctive animation style, which emphasizes detailed hand-drawn artwork. Many of the studio’s films explore complex themes, such as environmentalism, pacifism, and the power of the imagination, endearing them to audiences worldwide and making them huge international hits with adults and children alike.

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My Neighbor Totoro

While their mother recovers from an illness, two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei, move to the countryside with their father. Here they discover a magical creature named Totoro who, with the aid of a cat bus and numerous other sprites, takes them on fantastical adventures that helps them to cope with their worries and fears. A heartfelt – at times heartbreaking – portrayal of childhood, My Neighbor Totoro film inspired countless works of art and has become a cultural icon, symbolizing the magic and wonder of childhood imagination.

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Kiki’s Delivery Service

When Kiki, a young witch, moves to a new town to complete her training in exchange for accommodation, she becomes employed by a local baker to make deliveries on her broomstick. Of course, not everything runs smoothly for Kiki as she faces fears over her friendship with her cat companion, Jiji, and the inevitable adolescent emotional entanglements. An enchanting and uplifting tale with beautiful animation and charming characters, Kiki’s Delivery Service explores lessons about independence, responsibility, self-belief, and above all, finding one’s own path in life.

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Spirited Away

Upon moving to a new town (are you spotting a consistent theme here?) with her parents, Chihiro gets lost and finds herself trapped in a magical world of spirits and gods. To rescue her parents – who have been turned into pigs – and return to the human world, Chihiro must navigate a mysterious bathhouse and confront the many strange and dangerous creatures that inhabit it. Spirited Away is considered Miyazaki’s magnum opus and has often been listed among the greatest films ever. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003. It has become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring a generation of filmmakers thanks to its breathtaking animation, imaginative storytelling, and complex themes of identity, growth, and environmentalism.

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The Wind Rises

In 1916, young Jiro had one dream: to become a pilot. However, hindered by his nearsightedness, he dreams of his idol, the Italian aircraft designer Giovanni Battista Caproni, who informs him it is far superior to design planes than fly them. On his way to a university in Tokyo to study aeronautics, he meets a young girl on a train when the Great Kanto Earthquake hits. As well as the stunning animation for which Ghibli is now a watchword, The Wind Rises was praised for its nuanced portrayal of both Jiro and Japan’s wartime experience while generating controversy for its depiction of the designer’s involvement in creating warplanes. Love, politics, and the pursuit of developing beauty in times of darkness intertwine in The Wind Rises, another of Miyazaki’s timeless classics.

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Image: By Patrick Müller via flickr.com [CC By-NC-ND 2.0]
Image: Via Wikicommons – Fair Use
Image: Via Wikicommons – Fair Use
Image: Via Wikicommons – Fair Use
Image: Via Wikicommons – Fair Use