It's no exaggeration to say that Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. The Studio Ghibli co-founder is behind some of the most well-known and beloved anime movies ever made. From early hits like My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke to widely acclaimed classics like Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, Miyazaki is known all across Japan for his signature blend of fantasy and slice of life storytelling, though he's also famous outside of his home country. He has plenty of fans in America, including several big Hollywood filmmakers but it's no secret that he isn't exactly fond of old Uncle Sam. In fact, Miyazaki has said some pretty scathing things about the United States over the years. Back in 2015, this image began circulating on the Japanese website 2 Channel. It comes from the book "Hayao Miyazaki Image Board Collection" which was published more than three decades earlier, back in 1983. It's hard to find these days, but if you ever manage to get your hands on a physical copy then you're in for a real treat. It contains some of Miyazaki's earliest image boards giving readers a glimpse into his initial ideas for the likes of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa Castle In The Sky and Princess Mononoke among others. It's beautiful to look at
but it's more than just a collection of images. This book also includes a bunch of doodles that Miyazaki annotated with his thoughts on various topics including America. In this note, Miyazaki discusses the trouble he had when his wife became pregnant and he decided it was time that he learned how to drive. He states that, because he was against the Americanization of Japan, he had no interest in riding in an automobile. He drew a little angry version of himself in the top right hand corner of this page along with a bunch of anti-American statements like: anti-jeans, anti-bourbon, anti-burgers, anti-fried chicken, anti-Coca Cola, anti-American coffee, anti-New York, anti-West Coast and "Disneyland go back to America". He even wrote "Hooray for suteteko8 F**** briefs!", expressing his distaste for the tighty-whities worn by Americans. To fully understand why he was so full of hate for all things America back then, you have to go back even further. Miyazaki was born in Tokyo, on the 5th of January 1941, just 4 months after Japan entered World War II. His father was the director of Miyazaki Airplane, a company that built rudders for fighter jets. Business was obviously booming in the runup to the Second World War and the Miyazakis weren't exactly short of cash, but they also weren't immune to the effects that the war had on regular Japanese people. In 1944, the family became increasingly concerned that Tokyo would be attacked by the Americans and they decided to move North to Utsunomiya, over 100 km away. Sadly, that city was bombed in 1945 and they were forced to evacuate. While he was still just a child at the time, the shadow of the war loomed large over Miyazaki's life even after
the fighting ended. In an interview published in the Studio Ghibli magazine Neppū Miyazaki said that he grew up feeling like Japan had fought a "truly stupid war" and that he "heard adults speak boastfully of the horrible things they had done on the Chinese continent". He also said "I heard many stories and I
started to think that I had been born in a country that had done stupid things and I truly started to hate Japan". The business Miyazaki's dad was in is evidently what led to the future filmmaker's obsession with aviation, which often shines through in his work. From Nausicaa's glider, to Porco Rosso seaplane, to Jiro's Mitsubishi fighters there are a bunch of memorable flying scenes in Miyazaki's films. His father was clearly an influential figure in life but Miyazaki has admitted that he clashed with him on a regular basis during his teenage years while trying to get him to "acknowledge his War responsibility" as he put it. His unreflective attitude was apparently common among Japanese
adults at the time and that only made Miyazaki fall out of love with Japan all the more. However, Japan isn't the only country Miyazaki began hating at this point and there are no prizes for guessing who the other one is. Like everyone else his age, Miyazaki grew up hearing about the deadly air raids and the horrors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He once wrote "I dislike the United States that dropped the nuclear bombs and does not regret it" and he didn't stop with America's actions in the Second World War, adding "I look at people who wear Badges of the US Army and US Air Force that filled Vietnam with dioxins as enemies". While Miyazaki's dad was quick to make friends with the American soldiers after World War II ended, even opening in American blues and jazz bar, his son seems to have harbored a resentment that flares up every time the United States goes to war. In fact, it was for this very reason that Miyazaki refused to attend the Oscars when Spirited Away won Best Animated Feature in 2003. He later told the Los Angeles Times "The reason I wasn't here for the Academy Award was because I didn't want to visit a country that was bombing Iraq. At the time my producer shut me up and did not allow me to say that, but I don't see him around today". What Miyazaki did do is openly chastise America's actions in the Middle East with the film that he was working on at the time: Howl's Moving Castle. There's no war in the book that the film is based on, but Miyazaki introduced a pointless conflict between the kingdoms as a way of expressing how fruitless war is. In the film, the supposed justification for the war is proven to be false and lots of people die for nothing. There's no right and wrong side, only victims. It's a very different kind of War movie, one that according to Miyazaki "Americans just aren't used to seeing" One aspect of American culture that Miyazaki has been highly critical of on several occasions is the Hollywood war movie. Speaking to Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki in 2002, Miyazaki compared them to video games and took aim at the likes of Pearl Harbor and Saving Private Ryan. He said "the aerial forces do
their bombing and then it ends but the one war the Americans couldn't win that way was Vietnam. Because the Americans made films about Vietnam, they had to make films about not understanding things, films about not understanding Asians, like Apocalypse Now. I really can't understand why
Coppa made a film like that". Miyazaki's hatred for Hollywood blockbusters actually extends beyond the realm of war movies and he's never been afraid to call out the biggest names in Tinsel town. Despite the fact that Jaws is actually one of his favorite films the Ghibli veteran went to town
on Steven Spielberg's All-American whip wielding archaeologist Indiana Jones criticizing his treatment of the people and places he comes across on his globe trotting Adventures. He said "Americans shoot things and they blow up and the like, so as you'd expect they make movies like that. In the Indiana Jones movies, there is a white guy who -bang- shoots people, right? Japanese people who will go along with and enjoy that are unbelievably embarrassing. You are the ones that -bang- get shot. Watching those movies without any self-awareness is unbelievable. There's no pride, no historical perspective, you don't know how you are viewed by a country like America". Now Spielberg actually got the chance to meet Miyazaki when he traveled to Tokyo with his daughter and they apparently had a deep conversation about filmmaking. Martin Scorcese however wasn't so lucky. According to Steve Alpert, who led Ghibli's international division between 1996 and 2011, Scorcese invited Miyazaki to his apartment for a drink and a chat when the anime icon was in New York, but he turned down the offer. Alpert was the one who had to tell Scorcese's horrified press agent that Miyazaki just was not interested in meeting him. This trip to New York wasn't Miyazaki's first time in America. After he finished work on his debut feature film 1979's Lupin the 3rd, the castle of Cagliostro Miyazaki flew to Los Angeles to take part in a coproduction with an American company. He was around 40 years old at the time and it was apparently an awful experience. Despite the collaboration turning into a nightmare one good thing did come out of the months that Miyazaki spent in L.A. It was during this time that he came up with the idea for the manga series
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. Nausicaa was turned into a feature film in 1984 and it became the first Miyazaki movie to receive an English dub which was released in the States by a company called New World Pictures. The near 2 hours film was hacked
down to around 95 minutes and everything from the character names to the title of the movie were
changed. Nausicaa became Princess Zandra and the film became Warriors of the Wind. On top of that the dub actors were reportedly told absolutely nothing about the plot or their characters, which led to some hilariously bad performances. Now, you have to remember that Nausicaa is based on a manga that Miyazaki wrote and illustrated himself. So when he saw what those darn Americans had done to his baby, he was absolutely horrified. The experience made him adopt a very strict "no cuts policy" for overseas releases and this is what led to his infamous showdown with the now disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein. In 1996, Disney struck a landmark
deal with Ghibli and became the new official distributor of of their movies in America. The relationship got off to a rocky start when some of the Japanese songs in Kiki's Delivery Service were replaced with American ones and things got a lot worse when it came time for Disney to release its dub of Princess Mononoke. If you've seen Princess Mononoke, then you'll know that it's way more violent than your average Ghibli movie. There's gunshots, explosions, severed arms, severed heads, animals on fire, exploding forest spirits... I mean, it's absolute carnage. It's not the type of film that execs in California wanted to release under the Disney banner, so Princess Mononoke was shifted to Weinstein's Miramax which belonged to Disney at the time. Now, for Ghibli to even consider signing this distribution deal, Disney had to agree to Miyazaki's no cuts policy. For years there was a rumor that Miyazaki gave Weinstein a samurai sword along with a note reading "no cuts", as a gentle reminder not to flip with his film, but this is only half true. Weinstein got the blade and the message but they were given to him by longtime Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki and not Miyazaki himself. Being the arrogant prick that he is, Weinstein decided that he was going to ignore the terms of the agreement with Ghibli and cut Princess Mononoke down from 135 minutes to just 90 minutes. When Steve Alpert told Weinstein that Miyazaki would never agree to this, he flew into a rage. Alpert recounted the conversation in his memoir, revealing that Weinstein told him: "If you don't get him to cut the flipping film, you will never work in this flipping industry again. Do you flipping understand me? Never!" Weinstein eventually got the chance to plead his case to the man himself when Miyazaki came to America but the answer remained the same. Speaking in 2005, Miyazaki said: "I did go to New York to meet this man, this Harvey Weinstein, and I was bombarded with this aggressive attack, all these demands for cuts. I defeated him." Princess Mononoke was released in its entirety just as Miyazaki wanted and his relationship with Disney became pretty smooth for a while. He even visited the studio's headquarters in California at one stage, though he wasn't exactly impressed with what he saw. Disney was busy working on Fantasia 2000 at the time and they decided to give Miyazaki a sneak peek. According to Steve Alpert, who was acting translator on the day, when Miyazaki was asked what he thought, he said: "Hidoi.Totemo hidoi." Meaning: "Terrible. Really terrible." Alpert translated this as: "Mr Miyazaki finds the animation very unusual and very interesting". Nowadays, Miyazaki's deal with Disney has long since expired but his feelings towards the United States haven't really changed. So what's the real reason that Miyazaki hates America? Well, it breaks down into three parts: Number 1: man hates war. A staunch pacifist, Miyazaki has made his views on war crystal clear over the years, particularly when it comes to America. I think the fact that he chose to set The Boy And The Heron during World War II and show the lives of ordinary Japanese people really says a lot. This is very likely to be his last film
and, while it's not strictly autobiographical, it's clearly a deeply personal story. Like Mahito, the film's protagonist, Miyazaki's family fled to the countryside to escape the firebombing of Tokyo and the main character's father owns an air munitions factory. This period in Miyazaki's life obviously shaped the person that he became and his swan's song movie makes it clear that it's still a big influence on him to this day. It's no coincidence that Miyazaki made a point of mentioning war when he accepted his honorary award at the Academy in 2014. Number 2: man hates Mickey. When Miyazaki doodled "Disneyland go back to America" on a sketch back in the early 80s, he could have had no idea just how closely he would work with The Mouse House in the Years to come. For 15 years, Disney was responsible for releasing Ghibli movies in the United States and I think it's fair to say that they did a really shitty job. In fact they almost botched up Spirited Away somehow, despite it being an absolute masterpiece. After the whole Princess Mononoke battle, Disney executives were wary of all things Ghibli and weren't really interested in promoting Spirited Away. Pixar's John Lasseter loved the film and he did what he could to drum up interest but Spirited Away came out to little fanfare and was practically hidden away on Disney's website. A dead giveaway that they
were far from enthusiastic about the film, that ultimately won an Oscar, no thanks to them. Number 3: man is grumpy. Miyazaki's movies are what got me into anime to begin with and I think he's an absolute God among men. But there's no denying that the bloke loves a good moan. We've established by now that he hates America. However America is far from the only thing that he hates. Speaking to the now defunct magazine Animemerica back in 1993 Miyazaki said: 'I'm not an agnostic or anything but I don't like a society that parades its righteousness. The righteousness of the US, the righteousness of Islam, the righteousness of China, the righteousness of this or that ethnic
group, the righteousness of Green Peace... They all claim to be righteous but they all try to coerce others into complying with their own standards. They restrain others through huge military power, economic power, political power or public opinions. I myself have a number of things that I believe are right and some things make me angry. Actually, I'm a person who gets angry a lot more easily than most people but I always try to start from the assumption that human beings are foolish. I'm disgusted by the notion that man is the ultimate being chosen by God but I believe there are things in this world that are beautiful, that are important, that are worth
striving for." In the years since, Miyazaki has only become more jaded with society. One thing he cannot stand is modern technology. At one point he compared using an iPad to masturbation. And don't get him started on the use of AI in animation... At the end of the day, Miyazaki is someone who never shies away from sharing his opinion on a topic and it just so happens that his personal and professional lives have been impacted by American in a negative way. Yes, he dislikes the United States with a passion. But after everything he went through in his childhood and given his interactions with Hollywood, can you really blame him? That being said, he's a smart
guy and he no doubt realizes that the regular people of a country are not to blame for the bad decisions made by those in power I'm sure he appreciates all the fans he has in the States, so try not to take it too personally if you're American. And if you can't help but feel a
little offended, think about Donald Curtis from Porco Rosso, the only American character to ever appear in a Miyazaki film. Yes, Curtis is the main antagonist of the film and he's an arrogant entitled prick who thinks he's better than everyone else, but in the end he's the one who helps Porco break his curse. When they're slugging it out during the big finale Curtis tells Poco that Gina is in love with him and makes him realize that he's worthy of affection, that he doesn't need to view himself as a pig. If you've spent any time in Japan, then you'll know that the Japanese don't tend to say what they're actually thinking but, as an American, it's in Donald's nature to be blunt and that was exactly what the hero of the film needed in order to snap out of a slump. For me, this tells us that, while Miyazaki may hate America the superpower, he also begrudgingly recognizes that there's some value in the American way. The acclaimed American scholar and philosopher Will Herberg once said: "Americans tend to be moralistic, they are inclined to see issues as plain and simple, black and white". As anti-American as Miyazaki is, this description could easily be applied to him. He calls it how he sees it and, while he might not like to admit it, that's a trait that he shares with all those jeans-wearing, Cola-drinking, burger-munching people on the other side of the Pacific. Just don't expect to see him tearing through the streets of Tokyo in a Tesla anytime soon.
