Historic second Oscars win for Miyazaki sparks celebration in Japan as Asian talent increasingly recognized

Fans and artists across Japan have been toasting a night of international success for the country’s movie industry, after anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki picked up a historic second Oscar and the famed Godzilla franchise took home its first award.

Asian productions or nominees with a predominantly Asian cast have been making headway at the Academy Awards in recent years. South Korean thriller “Parasite” made history in 2020 as the first non-English language movie to win best picture, alongside three further awards.

Then came “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” an absurdist action comedy built around a Chinese immigrant family in America and the cultural differences they experience, which dominated last year. It claimed seven awards, including best supporting role for Vietnam-born Ke Huy Quan and best actress for Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh, who both presented awards on Sunday.

This year, the spotlight was firmly on Japan’s talent.

Miyazaki’s latest anime masterclass, “The Boy and Heron” won best animated feature film on Sunday, soaring over popular contenders including Disney’s “Elemental” and Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

It was the 83-year-old and his famed Studio Ghibli’s second Oscar after “Spirited Away” made cinematic history as the first non-English animation to win the same category in 2002.

“Ghibli’s reputation has grown dramatically over the past 20 years and it’s a credit to the quality of its output over nearly four decades,” Tokyo-based Roland Kelts, author of “Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Invaded the US,” told CNN.

“It may be also more significant for the Oscar Academy in showing that they recognize the artistic genius of Miyazaki and that they can parse the difference between animation as pure entertainment (which characterizes most American animation) and animation from Japan,” he said.

Since founding Studio Ghibli in 1985, Miyazaki has become one of the country’s most influential cultural icons.

Using a meticulously hand-drawn, frame-by-frame method of illustration, his other-worldly works have become synonymous with Japanese animation.

Many of his classic films, such as “My Neighbor Totoro and “Howl’s Moving Castle,” combine fantastical elements of folklore with magic and spirituality, while grappling with deep and complex issues such as death, conflict and adolescence.

Toshio Suzuki, producer of “The Boy and Heron,” said he called Miyazaki after the award ceremony and received a somewhat predictable response from the low-profile animator, known for his Zen-like demeanor and general aversion to the limelight, Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported.

“I said to him, ‘Congratulations!’ Suzuki said. “And he said to me, ‘The same word goes to you!’  And he laughed.”

In a subsequent statement, Suzuki said the film, which took seven years to make, was “truly difficult to bring to completion.”

“Both Hayao Miyazaki and I have aged a considerable amount. I am grateful to receive such an honor at my age,” Suzuki said.

Another breakthrough for Japan on Sunday was the best visual effects winner “Godzilla Minus One,” the first movie from the 70-year-old monster franchise to receive an Oscar.

Godzilla movies have had a major influence on generations of filmmakers and moviegoers ever since the first Japanese incarnation in 1954.

Many of the dozens of Godzilla adventures released since then include themes of environmental disaster and Japan’s experience as the only nation to have nuclear weapons deployed against it.

The crew from the latest Godzilla blockbuster were thrilled by their win. Special effects artist Tatsuji Nojima posted a photo on social platform X of a Godzilla figurine next to the Oscar statuette.

“Oscar, get! Wow,” he wrote in a post accompanied by dozens of exclamation marks.

Takashi Yamazaki, director of “Godzilla Minus One,” said his journey began four decades ago when the fantasies of “Star Wars” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” blew his young mind.

“I was somehow so far from Hollywood, and even the possibility of standing on this stage seemed out of reach,” he said. “This award is proof that everyone has a chance.”

More than just awards

Cheering poured in on social media after Sunday’s success, from politicians and the public alike.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida praised Miyazaki for his “unrestrained imagination and keen insight” and Yamazaki for his “outstanding technical skills and expressive ability.”

Their work resonated “with many people beyond borders and languages, surprising and moving them,” Kishida said in a statement from his office.

Gov. Hideaki Omura from Aichi prefecture, where a Ghibli Park based on worlds created by Miyazaki is located, said the theme park will feature new installations from “The Boy and Heron,” starting April 16, according to NHK.

Japanese social media users were delighted by Godzilla’s win in Hollywood.

“I felt that this was the moment when Godzilla was finally recognized not only in Japan but also in the world,” one person wrote on X.

For others, the award offered Japan a boost after a rough start to the year.

More than 200 people were killed and thousands left homeless after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake hit Ishikawa prefecture on January 1. The next day, five aid workers died in a plane collision on their way to the disaster site.

One user on X recalled how in 2011, months after a massive deadly quake and tsunami rocked Japan’s northeast coast, the country’s women’s soccer team went on to become the first Asian team to win the World Cup.

Likewise, this Oscars victory is “something that shows a glimmer of hope in the midst of despair,” the X user added. “This is what we need now.”

A nod to Miyazaki’s artistic genius

The award will for sure bear significance for Miyazaki and his fans, too, as critics predict it may be the octogenarian animator’s final movie.

Miyazaki came out of retirement to make the film, which follows a young boy who moves to the countryside after losing his mother in a hospital fire and encounters a magical grey heron.

The story is said to draw heavily from Miyazaki’s childhood and explores themes like grief and hope in a world marked by conflict and loss.

Premiered in Japan in June, the movie was a global success and topped the North American box office – earning just under $13 million in its opening weekend – despite deliberately launching no publicity campaign.

Kelts, the Japan-based author, said the second Oscar win showed the Academy had recognized Miyazaki’s artistic genius and that Japanese animation is far from solely entertainment.

It “is often freer, more expressionistic and touches upon the sublime,” said Kelts, who is also a visiting professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.

“Absolutely worth it and well-deserved – that an artist in his 80s could produce epic and relentlessly energetic work is inspiring,” he said.

CNN’s Heather Chen contributed reporting.

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