Rice, Miso Soup and Korokke.

Three reasons you should watch From Up on Poppy Hill by Studio Ghibli:

1. The food porn. Sure we’ve seen the eggs from Howl’s Moving Castle and the instant ramen from Ponyo, but those were borderline comical. (Stretchy ham, anyone?) The food scenes from FUoPH are cooking scenes, a high school girl making breakfast, frying sardines, cooking rice in a 60s Japanese kitchen.

2. It was the first Studio Ghibli animated film without any fantasy elements. The reason they decided to make it was to capture the spirit of optimism after the war, just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

3. The script was written by Hayao Miyazaki, but the director was his son, Goro.

I remember watching a YouTube documentary about Hayao Miyazaki. During the screening of Goro’s first movie for the studio, the father left halfway to get a cigarette. After the movie, he said something like ‘he’s still a kid, he’s not grown up yet’ etc.

Even as the movie was a success, as they progressed to make FUoPH together, as a scriptwriter, he’d come in and tear down Goro’s sketches, and use Suzuki the producer as a medium, to interfere. (The girl does not look happy at all! Goro can’t do it. He should just give up now! You need to tell him as a producer!)

I remember watching it with Chika and thought: what an asshole dad.

NHK is officially streaming the 4-part documentary for free until 2026. I recommend jumping straight to ep 3 ‘Go Ahead, Threaten Me’ to see the making of FUoPH.

Here’s a Japanese clip of all Hayao’s remarks to Goro.
The comments are the baffling bit because, with my limited understanding, they sound like:

’Miyazaki-sensei is so worried about his son.’
’He loves him, but he can’t express it.’
’The way he offered candy to Goro was so sweet.’
’Everything he said was out of love and care.’

…
What?
Did we watch the same thing?

Either they’ve taken a stance that ‘the great Miyazaki can do no wrong’, or it’s one of those things where we have to put on our ‘Asian’ cap to understand.

A father goes on record saying ‘my son is not good enough’ on national TV is love.

I love you, that’s why I’m harsh on you.
I know you love me, so that’s why I’m showing I’m strong, so you don’t have to worry.

The passive-aggressive kind of love white people goes to therapy for.

So caution: should you decide to watch the documentary, just assume these grown men are emotionally crippled/unable to be fully honest to the camera.

If you’ve seen Terrace House, then you’ll know what I’m talking about:
I’m trying to schedule a time with you to express how I feel about you. Please accept my application to have feelings for you and be ready to provide a response.

That sort of thing.

I empathise with Goro probably because I don’t have a son, but I do have a father. And being the youngest, I remember the conflicting message of ‘why are you such a baby’ followed by ‘don’t do anything, you’ll just screw it up.’

The workforce wasn’t any better.
Most companies expect you to perform, yet did not bother to train.

If the last generation can teach as well as they criticize, maybe we’d be somewhere and save everyone some disappointment.

So knowing that FUoPH was made under such conflicting flames, especially when the climax relied upon an adult to trust a bunch of high school kids, and all that subplot mess caused by the non-existing father figure made the viewing experience all the more interesting for me.

Backstory, so hot right now, right?

The movie is about 56 years in the past, yea?

The food they ate, ham and eggs, miso soup, natto, rice, crumbed sardines, korokke, is still the food the Japanese eat today.

I totally believe that in the year 2077, we’ll still be eating the same thing.

Fads come and go.
Simple home cooking is where it’s at.

Hi there! If you’re new here, thanks for buying my book.
You can access all the previous newsletters here.

All Studio Ghibli movies are available on Netflix.
Bargain, considering a Blu-ray box set is like $200 or something.