JAPAN BLOG: Kazuo Oga...and Totoro

Me at the entrance to the show.

Marianne with Totoro.

Here's some shots we took at the MOT-basically the Modern Art Museum of Tokyo. A huge exhibit was on the art of Kazuo Oga. If you have seen and love(as I do) any of the films by Hayao Miyazaki like TOTORO, SPIRITED AWAY, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, LAPUTA, et al, then you have seen his art. He is the background/matte painter and has been involved in all of Miyazaki's films painting-in sometimes as little as 20 minutes(!)-background painting that are lush, deep and amazing. He's also worked on alot of anime films in the 1980's, one being HARMAGEDDON and, he's done some picture books, and illustrations for poetry by survivors of the Hiroshima A-bomb in 1945. We bought all the books, and the Hiroshima one was so heartwrenching it's hard to read without getting tears in one's eyes. But, to see Oga's work, all you need to do is rent or buy any of Miyazaki's amazing films. It was a real treat to go here and again, I thank Ikkie and Shoji Hasegawa and Hicaru Tanaka for all their generosity in time and effort.