Famed director Hayao Miyazaki made a rare public appearance Monday in Tokyo, but the one-hour news conference may not have satisfied fans of his magical animation: The subject wasn't movies but politics.
Responding to questions from reporters, Miyazaki bashed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's moves to build a new U.S. military base in Okinawa Prefecture, revise the pacifist post-war Constitution and reactivate nuclear power plants that have been idled in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima crisis.
"I believe Prime Minister Abe wishes to leave his name in history as a great man who revised the Constitution and its interpretation, which I think is despicable," Miyazaki said at a news conference at his studio in Tokyo hosted by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.