Film and Digital Media @ Messiah

Japanese feel free and creative within the confines of a controlled environment. For hundreds of years we painted and mass-printed images, but we always drew the lines first and then colored between them, which is exactly how animation is made in this country. Japan is the world leader in manga and anime because we love lines, as they create a safety net to work within. Lines keep us straight.

Tools of the trade deserve respect. Everything has a spirit, and we Japanese sense it, whether it is in a mountain, a doll or a kitchen knife. Therefore, we usually give names to our tools; we treat them as partners. Once they are broken, we make elaborate ceremonies to thank them for their service and hard work. For example, we place old needles in tofu, and we pay our respects to them in a Shinto ceremony called harikuyo- (literally “mourning needles”). I named my first NEC computer Basset 68,000 and I still keep its brain, its hard disk, in a drawer. I can never throw it away.

The shogun, or general, has a lot more stress than the foot soldier. As a director, I have all the responsibility, and I have noticed that bossing people around is more tiring than following orders.

Animators need more support. Whenever I’m working in a production studio, I feel like a primary school teacher. Creators tend to be like children inside a protected environment, but a harsh, adult, business-based reality is waiting for them out there. Many great talents do not succeed because they cannot handle the real world.

Japan’s greatest treasure is its language. The Japanese language is very flexible and open, and we have been freely importing from many languages in every time period. Our language is always evolving, and that says a lot about our whole culture.

The sun might be the star, but for us Japanese, the leading role belongs to the moon. We prefer the moon’s poetic atmosphere to the power of the sun. We have many beautiful stories about how the moon gently reflects the sun’s light. This is how Japanese want to be: always second, never showing off. I am like that, too. I am so glad Hayao Miyazaki is the No. 1 anime director.

Non-Japanese who love Japan become more Japanese than the Japanese. I guess they already might have the typical Japanese characteristics of ambiguousness and lack of aggression at the start, and these just get enhanced as they master the Japanese language and get deeper into the culture.

Manga and anime fans are already otaku (obsessive fans), regardless of nationality. They are all over the world and in every walk of life. They can survive because they are educated and can make money. It sure costs a lot to be an otaku.

Animals need more protection. My dream is to set up an animal rescue force, similar to those that exist in other countries, where the officials not only help animals but have the authority to arrest those who hurt them.

Those who torture animals deserve severe punishment. I feel like giving them all the death penalty because it’s the worst kind of crime, and I rather suspect that such predators usually move on to children next. Also, if a man hurts a woman, he should get a life sentence.