Makoto Niitsu (新津 誠, Niitsu Makoto; born February 9, 1973), known as Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠, Shinkai Makoto), is a…
Makoto Niitsu (新津 誠, Niitsu Makoto; born February 9, 1973), known as Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠, Shinkai Makoto), is a Japanese filmmaker and novelist. A founder of CoMix Wave Films, he is known for his anime feature films enriched with visually-appealing animation and romantic stories depicting teenagers and high school students. Shinkai began his career as a video game animator with Nihon Falcom in 1996, and gained recognition as a filmmaker with the release of the original video animation (OVA) She and Her Cat (1999). Shinkai then released the science fiction OVA Voices of a Distant Star in 2002 as his first feature with CoMix Wave, followed by his debut feature film The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004). Shinkai's films have consistently received highly positive reviews from both critics and audiences, and he is considered to be one of Japan's most commercially successful filmmakers. His three most recent films Your Name (2016), Weathering with You (2019), and Suzume (2022), collectively known as his Disaster Trilogy, are all among the highest-grossing Japanese films of all time, both in Japan and worldwide at the time of their release.
Famous People from Nagano Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture: 3 people
Tsutomu Mizushima (水島 努, Mizushima Tsutomu; born December 6, 1965) is a Japanese anime director and sound director.
Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴, Yamazaki Takashi; born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor.…
Takashi Yamazaki (山崎 貴, Yamazaki Takashi; born June 12, 1964) is a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. Known for his blockbusters featuring advanced visual effects, he is considered a leading figure in the Japanese film industry. Yamazaki is the recipient of multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, eight Japanese Academy Awards, five Nikkan Sports Film Awards, two Hochi Film Awards, and an Asian Film Award. His films have collectively grossed over $560 million worldwide. Yamazaki found employment at visual effects and animation studio Shirogumi in 1986, and has remained there throughout his career. His first directorial features were the science fiction films Juvenile (2000) and Returner (2002), for which he became known as the "Japanese James Cameron". He later gained further notice in Japan by directing film adaptations of popular anime, novels, and manga, including Always: Sunset on Third Street (2005), Space Battleship Yamato (2010), The Eternal Zero (2013), and Stand by Me Doraemon (2014). The latter two films ranked as the highest-grossing Japanese live-action and animated releases, respectively, at the 2014 box office, and together earned a total of nine awards at the 38th Japan Academy Film Prize. Yamazaki's career continued with other film adaptations such as Parasyte: Part 1 (also 2014) and Part 2 (2015), Fueled: The Man They Called Pirate (2016), The Great War of Archimedes, Dragon Quest: Your Story, Lupin III: The First (all 2019), and Stand by Me Doraemon 2 (2020). His 2023 kaiju epic, Godzilla Minus One, became the most successful Japanese Godzilla film of all time and one of his highest-grossing films. Yamazaki and the visual effects team also became the first Japanese crew ever to receive the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2024, Yamazaki was included in Gold House's annual list of 100 Most Impactful Asians. He has since made the Minus One sequel Godzilla Minus Zero (2026), and is developing his first Hollywood productions: Grandgear (2028) and Nue.