[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “One Foot in the Past, One Foot in the Future: Hayao and Gorō Miyamoto’s 𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑈𝑝 𝑂𝑛 𝑃𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝐻𝑖𝑙𝑙” by Jeremiah Dutch

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Gorō Miyazaki (director), From Up on Poppy Hill, 2011. 91 min.

Yokohama is somewhat in the shadow of neighbouring Tokyo but it’s the second-largest city in Japan and has a flavour all its own. For over twenty years I have called this vibrant port city home. Perhaps it’s no wonder that I have found this town so welcoming and one of the most international places in a country that’s still somewhat homogenous. As one of Japan’s new cities, Yokohama’s history is broad rather than long with many pre-war structures and landmarks still intact.

The preservation of an old building is an important part of the plot of From Up on Poppy Hill. This bittersweet animated film, written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Gorō, is a departure from Miyazaki’s more fantastical and supernatural stories, such as Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001). The story is not as high-concept as those but is no less compelling for its sensitive outlook. Based on a manga written by Tetsuo Sayama and starring the voice talents of Masami Nagasawa and Junichi Okada, the story is about two high school students, Umi and Shun, who bond over their shared interest in saving their school’s clubhouse, known as the “The Latin Quarter”, from the wrecking ball and discover secrets that reveal that they have much more in common than they realised.

The story is set in Yokohama in 1963, eighteen years after the Second World War and ten years after the Korean War. The Tokyo Olympics, symbolic of Japan’s progress since the end of the US occupation, are one year away. The student activism and protests that would reach a high tide later in the decade are as much in the air as Kyo Sakamoto’s international hit Ue O Muite Aruko (known as Sukiyaki in the English-speaking world).

Today, well into the twenty-first century, older Japanese viewers, and foreigners in Japan, like me, might see Japan as peaceful to the point of being somewhat passive. Though From Up on Poppy Hill views the past through somewhat rose-tinted glasses, it portrays a time of passionate emotions long lacking in contemporary Japanese life, but the film should appeal to younger and older viewers, Japanese or foreign alike.  

How to cite: Dutch, Jeremiah. “One Foot in the Past, One Foot in the Future: Hayao Miyamoto’s From Up On Poppy Hill and 1960s Japan.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 28 Feb. 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/02/28/poppy-hill.

As an American who has called Japan home for over 25 years, Jeremiah Dutch’s writing crosses both cultures. He’s written about such diverse topics as horror films and climbing Mt. Fuji. While still an undergraduate, he wrotefor The Haverhill (Massachusetts) Gazette and The Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Herald. In 1997, he graduated from the University of New Hampshire and moved to Japan to teach English the following year. In 2007 he earned a MS.Ed in Education from Temple University and for over seventeen years taught at the post-secondary level while continuing to write academic articles, fiction, and non-fiction. He currently teaches at Rikkyo University.  In 2022, his short piece, Zen Failure in Kyoto won an Honourable Mention in the Seventh Annual Writers in Kyoto Competition. This was excerpted and adapted from his then novel-in-progress, Gaijin House. These days he calls Yokohama home and lives there with his wife and two daughters. When not writing, teaching, or spending time with his family, he enjoys reading, exercising, and following baseball. Some more information about Jeremiah and his writing can be found on his website and Instagram. [All contributions by Jeremiah Dutch.]