Inside Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki, by Steve Alpert - review & interview
New book goes inside Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki
Steve Alpert worked there for 15 years and knew major players
TOKYO — Steve Alpert's book comes advertised as a business memoir, though you may find yourself grinning more often than annotating. For 15 years, starting in 1996, the American headed the international division at Studio Ghibli, Japan's most commercially and artistically successful anime company.
As their first non-Japanese hire, he negotiated with clients from Asia, Europe and the U.S., supervised the English-language translations of "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away," voice-acted a character in Japanese for 2013's "The Wind Rises," and accepted awards on his employer's behalf at prestigious global film festivals.
He also clinched the indie studio's nascent distribution deal with Disney, a coup to bring the films of Hayao Miyazaki into living rooms worldwide on VHS and DVD — and an Oscar to their visionary creator.
The title of Alpert's book, Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man, refers to six-time retiree Miyazaki who, at 79, is back making movies, and the book itself is a much wilder ride than most in its genre. Alpert combines a comedian's sense of timing and self-deprecation with a novelist's eye for killer scenes.
The book's four key characters -- producer Toshio Suzuki, the late media mogul Yasuyoshi Tokuma who funded Ghibli, genius Miyazaki and outsider Alpert, peering through the looking glass -- weave in and around the action like a crack ensemble, their eccentricities often thrown into hilarious relief by Japan's rigid corporate culture.
Alpert fears for his life during long commutes in gadget-geek Suzuki's kitted-out car; sequesters in the corner of a park to rehearse company speeches in formal Japanese ("like trying to eat or drink immediately after a trip to the dentist, you think you're doing it right, but you can't really tell"); slurps ice cream and pudding under the silent gaze of his charismatic overlord, Tokuma; and nearly loses Miyazaki's precious Golden Bear trophy for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival by leaving it at the wrong airport gate.
Recounting his bumbling misadventures, Alpert earns more than a few empathetic nods, especially from those who have lived and worked overseas.
Descriptions of Japan's seemingly endless official welcome greetings, and lengthy compulsory meetings held after everyone has already agreed on their outcome, epitomize his host society's tendency to elevate form over content. Still, they are conveyed with genuine fascination and respect.
I first interviewed Alpert several years ago, when he gave me a tour of Ghibli's studio complex and helped arrange my conversations with Miyazaki. Recently, I spoke to him on a video call from his home near New Haven, Connecticut, in the U.S. "Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man" may be the only behind-the-scenes book about Studio Ghibli we ever get — at least until Miyazaki finally retires for good.
Roland Kelts: Miyazaki comes across exactly like the paradoxical personality I've met: outwardly grumpy about food and business travel, but ultimately cheerful and kindly. He micromanages his films in Japan yet doesn't seem to care much what happens to them when they're sold abroad.
Steve Alpert: Yeah, he usually doesn't even watch the dubbed versions of his films. But the one he did watch was "Howl's Moving Castle." And the reason he did [laughs] was because we had a screening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the legendary actress Lauren Bacall, who voiced a role, was going to attend.
Miyazaki said, "The Lauren Bacall will be there? I'm going!" He sat next to her through the entire film. She flirted with him and held his hand. Afterward, he said he loved the dub. He was very happy.
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Steve Alpert worked there for 15 years and knew major players
Nikkei Asian Review
TOKYO — Steve Alpert's book comes advertised as a business memoir, though you may find yourself grinning more often than annotating. For 15 years, starting in 1996, the American headed the international division at Studio Ghibli, Japan's most commercially and artistically successful anime company.
As their first non-Japanese hire, he negotiated with clients from Asia, Europe and the U.S., supervised the English-language translations of "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away," voice-acted a character in Japanese for 2013's "The Wind Rises," and accepted awards on his employer's behalf at prestigious global film festivals.
He also clinched the indie studio's nascent distribution deal with Disney, a coup to bring the films of Hayao Miyazaki into living rooms worldwide on VHS and DVD — and an Oscar to their visionary creator.
Suzuki, left, and Miyazaki, right, are joined onstage by interpreter Linda Hoagland at a press conference and screening of "Spirited Away" in Hollywood in 2002. © Getty Images
The book's four key characters -- producer Toshio Suzuki, the late media mogul Yasuyoshi Tokuma who funded Ghibli, genius Miyazaki and outsider Alpert, peering through the looking glass -- weave in and around the action like a crack ensemble, their eccentricities often thrown into hilarious relief by Japan's rigid corporate culture.
Alpert fears for his life during long commutes in gadget-geek Suzuki's kitted-out car; sequesters in the corner of a park to rehearse company speeches in formal Japanese ("like trying to eat or drink immediately after a trip to the dentist, you think you're doing it right, but you can't really tell"); slurps ice cream and pudding under the silent gaze of his charismatic overlord, Tokuma; and nearly loses Miyazaki's precious Golden Bear trophy for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival by leaving it at the wrong airport gate.
Recounting his bumbling misadventures, Alpert earns more than a few empathetic nods, especially from those who have lived and worked overseas.
Alpert appears as a Ghibli character on the cover of his book. (Stone Bridge Press)
Descriptions of Japan's seemingly endless official welcome greetings, and lengthy compulsory meetings held after everyone has already agreed on their outcome, epitomize his host society's tendency to elevate form over content. Still, they are conveyed with genuine fascination and respect.
I first interviewed Alpert several years ago, when he gave me a tour of Ghibli's studio complex and helped arrange my conversations with Miyazaki. Recently, I spoke to him on a video call from his home near New Haven, Connecticut, in the U.S. "Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man" may be the only behind-the-scenes book about Studio Ghibli we ever get — at least until Miyazaki finally retires for good.
Roland Kelts: Miyazaki comes across exactly like the paradoxical personality I've met: outwardly grumpy about food and business travel, but ultimately cheerful and kindly. He micromanages his films in Japan yet doesn't seem to care much what happens to them when they're sold abroad.
Steve Alpert: Yeah, he usually doesn't even watch the dubbed versions of his films. But the one he did watch was "Howl's Moving Castle." And the reason he did [laughs] was because we had a screening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the legendary actress Lauren Bacall, who voiced a role, was going to attend.
Miyazaki said, "The Lauren Bacall will be there? I'm going!" He sat next to her through the entire film. She flirted with him and held his hand. Afterward, he said he loved the dub. He was very happy.
Read>>
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