Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man
15 Years at Studio Ghibli
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A unique behind-the-scenes look at Japanese business and how the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki were introduced to the world.
This highly entertaining business memoir describes what it was like to work for Japan’s premiere animation studio, Studio Ghibli, and its reigning genius Hayao Miyazaki. Steve Alpert, a Japanese-speaking American, was the “resident foreigner” in the offices of Ghibli and its parent Tokuma Shoten and played a central role when Miyazaki’s films were starting to take off in international markets. Alpert describes hauling heavy film canisters of Princess Mononoke to Russia and California, experiencing a screaming Harvey Weinstein, dealing with Disney marketers, and then triumphantly attending glittering galas celebrating the Oscar-winning Spirited Away.
His one-of-a-kind portraits of Miyazaki and long-time producer Toshio Suzuki, and of sly, gruff, and brilliant businessman Yasuyoshi Tokuma, capture the hard work and artistry that have made Ghibli films synonymous with cinematic excellence. And as the lone gaijin in a demanding company run by some of the most famous and influential people in modern Japan, Steve Alpert tackles his own challenges of language and culture. No one else could have written this book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This intermittently intriguing memoir offers only limited insight into either its author or the never-ending man of the title, renowned Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki but it does provide a fresh perspective on the experience of Westerners in Japan. Alpert was, for more than a decade, the only non-Japanese employee at Studio Ghibli, acting as head of international sales for the company behind such popular Miyazaki films as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. His account never feels like a fish-out-of-water story, as he begins some 10 years into his time in Japan. He also says less about the nuts and bolts of making movies than about the general experience of doing business as an outsider in Japan, musing, for instance, on how his status as a gaijin, or foreigner, led to him being treated as a kind of status symbol for the company. A few striking characters emerge notably Tokuma chairman Yasuyoshi Tokuma, depicted here as a ruthless, often frightening businessman with a penchant for H agen-Dazs ice cream but Alpert never conveys much of a personal connection with Miyazaki himself. Amounting to an uneven collection of business anecdotes, Alpert's workmanlike book will appeal more to other expatriate Japan residents than to Miyazaki fans.
