Miyazaki Quotes...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki criticized Prime Minister Taro Aso's penchant for "manga" comic books Thursday and said children should spend more time experiencing nature than getting engrossed in video games and TV.

The 67-year-old director of a string of animated blockbusters including this year's "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" was asked what he thought about 68-year-old Aso's much-touted penchant for reading comics, which has gained the premier a following among fellow manga fans.

"It's an embarrassment," Miyazaki said in a rare news conference. "That's something that should be done in private."

A maverick who has stuck to hand-drawn artwork despite the burgeoning digital animation industry, Miyazaki harks back to a more natural, pre-industrial Japan in works such as "Spirited Away," for which he won an Academy Award in 2003.

Miyazaki distanced himself from the "soft power" of video, game and manga content that Aso and other Japanese politicians have tried to harness to boost the country's image.

Aso even launched an international manga award to promote the genre -- a 500 billion yen ($5.2 billion) industry in Japan alone -- around the world.

"This environment surrounding our children is full of virtual reality: television, video games, e-mail, mobile phones and manga," the white-haired Miyazaki said.

"I think this saps children of their strength," he said, adding that he realized his viewpoint was paradoxical, given his choice of vocation.

Miyazaki said he advocated having children learn practical skills such as lighting fires and using knives before they learn to read or count.

"Instead of thinking about how to stimulate demand by creating bridges or roads, we should have the proper environment in place for future generations," he said.

He also spoke of his efforts to train a new generation of young animators. He has chosen 20 young people to start work next year in a training studio away from Tokyo, he said.

...read this article off the cryocopy website. lumang article na, november 2008 pa pero stumbled on it.

yeah, pretty paradoxical nga when you hear him say that, pero he does have a point. the digital age sure brought in a lot of good stuff, but also some bad ones too...