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Hayao Miyazaki Acknowledges Japan's Wartime Conduct at Ramon Magsaysay Awards Ceremony
posted on by Ken Iikura-Gross
Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder and director at Studio Ghibli, received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award on November 16 in Manila, Philippines. The director did not attend the ceremony due to health reasons, so Studio Ghibli board member Kenichi Yoda accepted the award on behalf of Miyazaki.
In his acceptance speech read aloud by Yoda, Miyazaki spoke on the actions the Japanese army took during World War II: “The Japanese did a lot of terrible things back then. They killed many civilians. The Japanese people must not forget this. It will always remain. With such history, I solemnly accept the Ramon Magsaysay Award from the Philippines.”
The Award Ceremony is available on the Ramon Magsaysay Award YouTube channel. The video below begins at Miyazaki's introduction.
The awards' organizers announced Miyazaki as a 2024 winner on August 31 during a livestream on the YouTube channel. The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation website released a statement by Miyazaki on September 5:
I am delighted to receive the very prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award. It would be a great honor if it were the result of my films being accepted by many Asian people and giving the strength to live, especially to the children born there. I have heard that the Award has been given in the past to respected film director Akira Kurosawa and the poet Michiko Ishimure. I am deeply honored and humbled to join the ranks of those who have received this.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in 1957 to “honor Philippines President Magsaysay's memory and perpetuate his example of integrity in public service and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.” The Award is oft cited as the “Nobel Prize of Asia.”
Sources: Ramon Magsaysay Award's YouTube channel (link 2), Ramon Magsaysay Award's website (link 2), NHK, Nippon TV News 24 Japan's YouTube channel, Ghibli no Sekai
