Hayao Miyazaki visits tsunami-stricken Iwate (via CNN)

The March 11 tsunami is unnervingly foreshadowed in this scene from Ponyo, Studio Ghibli's last Hayao Miyazaki-directed film, released in 2008. However, the film screened in this CNN video for the children of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, is Kokuriko-zaka Kara, Ghibli's latest release (May 2011), directed by Miyazaki's son, Goro.

Hayao Miyazaki visited Iwate with Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki last month. Also on hand was Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno--though CNN apparently felt no need to mention him.

"I thought he was a foreigner," says one girl of Hayao Miyazaki. "His skin was white, he had a long nose and a big beard. I was so surprised seeing him for the first time."

Santa Claus sans paunch?

[Behold the Ponyo watch]

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