HUMAN DOCUMENT
Men who made the world boil ’78
A man among men
Three men who have made headlines around the world. Their lives are always positive with a spirit full of challenges.
Yoshinobu Nishizaki
Space Battleship Yamato teaches love
Yoshinobu Nishizaki was born in Tokyo in 1934. In 1977, he completed the film Space Battleship Yamato, and then Farewell to Yamato in 1978.
Love and first love as a theme!
To save the Earth, to live in greater love, Susumu Kodai launched alone in Space Battleship Yamato. An animated film has never been so widely talked about by such a wide range of people, adults and children alike. The creator of Yamato is Producer Nishizaki, who said, “Let’s make something with drama and a dream with animation rather than manga.”
Talking about his work in animation, he said, “I wanted to make a space animation where we could go everywhere. However, it’s obvious that rockets fly in space, so we should make a ship fly. How about a battleship? If it’s a battleship, it should be the Yamato.” Thus, Space Battleship Yamato was born.
Mr. Nishizaki says, “The basic theme of this drama is love. Love is what makes us human. Another is first love in one’s teens. Yamato is an attempt to depict the way of life of a young person through that beautiful emotion that we all experience at least once in our lives.”
“Teenage years are a time of challenge, and it is through challenging our potential that we grow as human beings. We find what is most important for humans to live like humans.” Mr. Nishizaki pursued this theme and delivered the great hit Space Battleship Yamato to the world.
Challenge the possibilities!
Mr. Nishizaki’s life up to now has been quite eventful. He faced many challenges and experiences before becoming the producer he is today. As a young boy, he always had a dream of doing something, and went through a process of trial and error.
In college, while attending school, he joined a theater company and dreamed of becoming an actor. His parents were against it, so he ran away from home and was accepted into a workshop deep in the mountains of Shinshu where he worked through the winter.
After an accident caused him to give up acting, he worked as a fashion model to make ends meet. He also worked as a jazz commentator, a coffee shop boy, and a bartender. While traveling around the country as an orchestra manager, he became interested in the theater business. He eventually became a music producer and started his career in planning and production.
Nishizaki says that he clearly set his sights on becoming a producer when he was 26 or 27 years old. After that, he went to France and did other work. He has continued to challenge various possibilities, and he is now considered a “modern day hero.” Space Battleship Yamato is backed by his rich experience, and “challenging possibilities and the spirit of love” was poured into it. This seems to be the secret behind Yamato‘s unprecedented success.
Nishizaki has broken new ground in animation. “I always challenge myself, and I will continue to create new things on top of what I have built up so far. To that end, rather than treating ‘love’ and ‘challenge’ as mere words, I value putting them into practice.”
His attitude is always positive.
Good luck! Student candidates
No matter what you do, it’s better to have the knowledge you learned in high school. This is the age when you have many dreams and can challenge yourself. You should try various things to find out what suits you best.
Don’t be afraid of trial and error. Aim to improve yourself by thinking and trying. It is no good just dreaming without doing anything. We must attack with all our might to achieve our dreams. You should even try immersion study if necessary.