Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki’s “conflict” over the birth of the “unique” film “How Do You Live?

Hayao Miyazaki’s (82) first new film in 10 years, “How Do You Live?”, was released on July 14, 2012, and its one-month box-office revenue exceeded 6.2 billion yen.

The only publicity for this film prior to its release was a poster. There were no theatrical trailers, newspaper advertisements, TV spots, or any other advance promotional activities.

The pamphlet went on sale on August 11, the month after the film’s release, which is an unusual occurrence. The pamphlet contained no interviews, commentary, or contributions, but only a brief description of the film, a “Feature Film Planning Memorandum,” the lyrics to the theme song “Chikyugi” sung by Genshi Yonezu, and staff credits.

The rest of the pamphlet is taken up by cuts from the film. This strange pamphlet has also caused a number of fans to be immensely impressed. Producer Toshio Suzuki, 75, commented on the situation,

It is obvious that there is too much information in today’s world. It is as if people go to see a movie to check the information in advance.

I want the audience to watch the film with an open mind.

I want the audience to watch the film with a clean slate.

The cut in advertising costs will be added to the production cost. This may be the reason why we were able to gather a splendid cast of voice actors for this film. Promotion, however, relies on word of mouth and SNS.

For producer Suzuki, who has been putting a lot of effort into promotion, this was truly a once-in-a-generation gamble. Director Miyazaki is also watching the box-office revenue, saying, “We’ll see if Mr. Suzuki’s gamble pays off or not.

This is an autobiographical fantasy film that borrows the title from the novel of the same title written by Yoshino Genzaburo, which was given to Miyazaki by his mother when he was a boy, and is based on his own childhood, which he has never depicted before. Why did Miyazaki, who held a grand retirement press conference 10 years ago, decide to work on this film in the first place?