From Up on Poppy Hill (2011), directed by Gorō Miyazaki
If you know any major animation studios besides Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks, you’re probably familiar with Japan’s Studio Ghibli. Director Hayao Miyazaki and others at Ghibli have created a storytelling legacy rich with lovable characters, intense conflicts, stirring emotions, lush soundscapes, vivid colors, and, perhaps most importantly, quiet spaces for contemplation. Those spaces reflect a Japanese aesthetic called ma. Miyazaki explained it with an illustration of hands clapping: “The time in between my clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness. But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension . . . all the time, you just get numb.”[1]
What do the breathing spaces in From Up on Poppy Hill invite us to ponder? The 2011 film, directed by Gorō Miyazaki (Hayao’s son), takes place in Yokohama, Japan, just before the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. Yokohama buzzes with the energy of renovating and building. As one of Japan’s primary port cities, it hosts sending-out and receiving every day. In that setting, we follow a high school girl named Umi, who, we learn, lost her father when his ship was bombed in the Korean War. Her mother, an academic, travels extensively, and Umi lives in (and takes on a lot of the management duties of) a former hospital building that has been converted into a boarding house. Already we see themes of loss, change, and perseverance.
On the campus of Umi’s high school stands an old, dilapidated building called the “Latin Quarter” that has become home to numerous boys’ clubs and the school newspaper. The administration plans to tear down the building and construct a new one in its place. The boys are furious—but when we enter the Latin Quarter, we see that it has been poorly taken care of. Umi commandeers a group of students to undertake a thorough cleaning, repairing, and repainting. When the chairman of the school (an alumnus himself) visits, he changes his plans—and it’s not because of the newly restored building; rather, it’s because he sees the love that the students have for the space and the benefit of a continuing legacy. “My friends, you have shown me the Latin Quarter’s true value,” he says. “How can we educate the young without protecting our culture?” We’ve observed through the film how the Latin Quarter has not only preserved an important legacy at the school, but it has also been a place that cultivates community.
From Up on Poppy Hill asks us to take a moment—the “time in between clapping”—to consider how we have stewarded the legacy of God’s story at work among his people, and how that legacy has built community. In Psalm 145:4, the writer encourages us that “One generation will praise your deeds to another, and tell about your mighty acts.” That’s our legacy: Telling the grandest story, again and again. The writer of Hebrews shows us that our legacy is not just about individuals proclaiming the truth, but about the truth bringing us together in community, just as the Latin Quarter’s renovation did for the students at the school: “And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings . . . but encouraging each other” (10:24–25).
In the “breathing spaces” of the week ahead, take time to look around you and really notice where you live. Then reflect on the grand story you get to be part of and the legacy you get to share with others.
Questions:
- What are some of examples of the themes of preservation and restoration that you notice in From Up on Poppy Hill?
- Which of those examples most resonates with you? Are you especially touched by moments of family relationship, or coming of age, or a city’s changing character, or the campus life of a school, or something else?
- What are some recent times that you have “praised God’s deeds to another” and told about God’s mighty acts? Who is someone in your life who needs to hear that story this week?
- What are the physical spaces in your life that help “spur one another on to love and good works”? How have you balanced preserving the old and building the new in the worship spaces you’ve been a part of?
For more devotionals in this series, click here.
[1] Roger Ebert, “Hayao Miyazaki Interview,” RogerEbert.Com, December 14, 2012, https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/hayao-miyazaki-interview.
About the Contributors
Neil R. Coulter
Neil R. Coulter completed degrees in music performance and ethnomusicology from Wheaton College and Kent State University. He and his family lived in Papua New Guinea for twelve years, where Neil served as an ethnomusicology and arts consultant for Wycliffe Bible Translators. In 2015, he helped design and launch the PhD in World Arts at Dallas International University. He teaches doctoral courses in theory and ethnography at DIU’s Center for Excellence in World Arts. At DTS, he teaches about art, literature, film, and theology, and he is senior writer and editor of DTS Magazine. Neil is married to Joyce, and they have three sons.
Contributors
