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Rethinking Human-Nature Relationships in the Time of Coronavirus: Postmodern Animism in Films by Miyazaki Hayao & Shinkai Makoto
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Abstract
Issues we are confronted with in the age of the Anthropocene, such as climate change, extinction, and the coronavirus pandemic demand a fundamental rethink of human-nature relationships, but at the same time we are faced with a ‘crisis of imagination’, which is highlighted by the paucity of stories or narratives that enable us to fully engage with these issues. We have a ‘climate crisis’ as well as a ‘crisis of culture’ and both derive from the same source: epistemological limitations in the paradigm of modernity. The most problematic limitation is the fact that our social scientific knowledge has blind spots when it comes to nature and spirituality which makes it almost impossible for us to rethink human-nature relationships in a meaningful way. Miyazaki Hayao and Shinkai Makoto, however, directly illuminate these blind spots by making nature and spirituality central features in their animation films. This opens up new epistemological and ontological spaces in the hearts and minds of a global audience, making it possible to imagine something new. And that ‘something new’ is ‘postmodern animism’ which emerged from the fusion of a critique of modernity with the intangible cultural heritage of grassroots Japan. Postmodern animism is a philosophy that sees nature as a combination of the life-world and the spiritual-world thus enabling us to engage with climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic in a radically different way. It helps us to conceive a new paradigm that is more suitable for the Anthropocene.
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References
Notes
1 Mackay Hugh (2020) ‘Building community in a crisis’, ABC Radio: Conversations, 9 April 2020, 13m56s.
2 Diprose, Kirsten & Neal, Matt (2020) ‘Jane Goodall sayas global disregard for nature brought on coronavirus pandemic’, ABC South West Victoria, 11 April 2020.
3 Amitav Ghosh (2016) The Great Derangement: climate change and the unthinkable, University of Chicago Press, Kindle edition. p.9.
4 Ibid, p.72.
5 As represented by the works such as: 1) Latour, Bruno (1993) We Have Never Been Modern, Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition; 2) Haraway, Donna (1991) Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York: Routledge; and 3) Descola, Philippe and Pálsson, Gìsli (eds) (1996) Nature and Society. London: Routledge.
6 Pope Francis (2015), Encyclical Letter Laudato Si of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home, Vatican Press, Vatican City.
7 Val Plumwood 2015, ‘Nature in the active voice’, in Graham Harvey (ed.), The Handbook of Contemporary Animism, Routledge, London & New York, p.445.
8 Ibid.
9 Yural Harari (2015) Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow.
10 Jacques Pollini (2013) ‘Bruno Latour and the ontological dissolution of nature in the social sciences: A critical review’, Environmental Values, 22, p.26.
11 The exception to this trend is the discourse called new animism that surfaced in the end of the 1990s. However, this does not as yet seem to have constituted a strong current in social sciences.
12 Christian Rutz, Matthias-Claudio Loretto, Amanda E. Bates, et al (2020) ‘COVID-19 lockdown allows researchers to quantify the effects of human activity on wildlife’, Nature, Ecology and Evolution, published on 22 June.
13 Ian Connellan (2020) ‘The “anthropause” during COVID-19: Wildlife going wild. What can we learn?‘, Cosmos Magazine, 25 June. (viewed on 9 August 2020)
14 Ghosh (2016) Derangement, p.30
15 Ibid, p.7.
16 Ibid, p.31.
17 Ibid, p.63.
18 Thrush Song: Composer Paola Prestini and the Young People's Chorus of New York City Celebrate Rachel Carson's Legacy
19 Yoneyama, Shoko (2019) Animism in Contemporary Japan: Voices for the Anthropocene from Post-Fukushima Japan, Routledge, London & New York, pp.1-40. See a book review by Chilla Bulbeck (2019) ‘Postmodern Animism for a New Modernity’, Green Magazine, 5 July 2019.
20 Animehakku henshubu (2019) ‘Shumatsu anime eiga rankingu: “Tenki no ko” koshu 130 oku en toppa, “Hello World” wa 6-i stato’ [Weekend anime-film ranking: Box-office revenue for “Tenki no ko” exceeds 13 billion yen, “Hello Worlds” starts with rank 6]. (viewed 9 August 2020)
21 Eiga.com news (2019) ‘“Tenki no ko” Indo kokai kettei! Mumbai, Deli nado 20 toshi de 10 gatsu 11 nichi kara fugiri’, 10 August, (viewed 10 August 2020)
22 Shinkai, Makoto (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), Kadokawa Bunko, Tokyo.
23 Kato, Hiroyuki et al (eds) (2019) Tenki no Ko: Koshiki [official] Visual Guide, Kadokawa, Tokyo.
24 Ibid. pp.60-61, for Shinkai's project proposal.
25 Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), p.26.
26 Ibid. p.143.
27 Ibid.
28 Ibid. p.203.
29 Ibid. p.267.
30 Ibid. p.270.
31 Ibid. p.294.
32 Japan Meteorological Agency (2019) ‘Reiwa gannen taifu 19 go to sore ni tomonau oame nado no tokucho yoin ni tsuite‘[Characteristics and factors of Tyhoon no.19 of Reiwa era and its associated rain], (viewed 18.11.2019)
33 Fire and Disaster Management Agency (2020) ‘Reiwa gan-nen higashinihon taifu oyobi zensen ni yoru higai oyobi shobo kikan to no taio jyokyo (dai 66 ho)‘ [Damage and management by fire-brigade and other agencies towards the Reiwa 1 Eastern Japan Typhoon and heavy rain in Reiwa 1 – Report 66] 令和元年東日本台風及び前線による大雨による 被害及び消防機関等の対応状況（第66報）
34 Fire and Disaster Management Agency (2020) ‘Reiwa 2-nen 7-gatsu gou ni yoru higai oyobi shobo kian to no taisaku jyokyo (dai 30 po)‘ [Damage and management by fire-brigade and other agencies for the heavy rain in Reiwa 2 July – Report 3] (viewed on 3 July 2020)
35 Japan Meteorological Agency (2020) Reiwa 2-nen 7-gatsu gou no kansoku kiroku ni tsuite [On the observation record of the terrestrial rain in July 2020]
36 Japan Meteorological Agency (2019) ‘Oame ya moshobi nado (kyokutan gensho) no kore made no henka‘[Trends of torrestial rain and extreme heat [extreme phenomena], (viewed 18.11.2019).
37 Au, Bonnie and Tsang, Yuki (2020) ‘Why has flooding been so severe in China this year?‘, South China Morning Herald.
38 TeleTo News (2019) ‘Tyhoon no.19 Damages known so far’, (15 October, YouTube Video, counter 15 seconds)(viewed 9 August 2020)
39 Kato (2019) Tenki no Ko: Visual Guide, p.45.
40 Shinkai (2019), Tenki no Ko (novel), p.283.
41 Ibid, pp.286-7.
42 Ibid, p.292.
43 Shinkai, Makoto (2019) Tenki no Ko Visual Guide, Kadokawa, Tokyo, p.61.
44 Kato (2019) Tenki no Ko: Visual Guide, p.13.
45 Shinkai, Makoto (2016) Shosetsu Kimi no Na wa [Novel – Your Name], Kindle version, Kadokawa, Tokyo, location 780-793 of 2436 (my translation).
46 Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), pp.138-140.
47 See for instance Rambelli, Fabio (ed) (2019) Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan, Bloomsbury Academic, London & New York.
48 Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), p.202 (my translation).
49 Tsugata, Nobuyuki (2019) Shinkai Makoto no sekai o tabisuru [Journey to the world of Makoto Shinkai], Heibon shinsho 916, chapter 4.
50 Miyazaki, Hayao (2008) Turning Point: 1997-2008, trans. Beth Cary & Frederik Schodt, Viz Media, San Francisco, p.413.
51 Miyazaki, Hayao (1996) Starting Point: 1979-1996, trans. Beth Cary & Frederik Schodt, Viz Media, San Francisco, p.359.
52 Yoneyama (2019) Animism, p.182.
53 Miyazaki (2008), Turning Point, p.82.
54 Ibid.
55 Yoneyama (2019) Animism.
56 Yoneyama (2019) Animism.
57 Talcott Parsons [1930] 1974, ‘Translator's note’, Chapter IV, Endnote 19, in Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons, Unwin University Books, London (citation on p.222)
58 Yoneyama (2019) Animism, pp.179-198.
59 Miyazaki (1996) Starting Point, p.333.
60 Miyazaki, Hayao(2013) Kaze no kaeru basho [The place where the wind returns], collection of interviews by Ibuya Yōichi conducted 1990-2001, Bungeishunjū, Tokyo. p.199.
61 Miyazaki, Hayao (2012) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Comic version: Deluxe edition 1), trans. David Lewis & Toren Smith, Viz Media, San Francisco, vol.2, p.158.
62 Ibid. p.511.
63 Miyazaki (2012) Nausicaä Comic, vol.5, p.518.
64 Miyazaki and Shinkai are not alone in presenting nature and spirituality in their work. Illustrations of the invisible world are one of the main attractions of Japanese pop-culture such as manga, anime, and computer games, all of which are part of a broader body of Japanese literature and scholarship. However, Miyazaki and Shinkai are at the pinnacle of the global influence of this aspect of Japanese pop-culture. Only Pokémon would perhaps carry the same ‘caliber’ as Miyazaki and Shinkai in its global influence and Pokémon is also firmly based on animism. However, Pokémon does not give a story in everyday life of human society.
65 Tsugata (2019) Journey, chapter 4.
66 Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), p.202 (my translation).
67 Ibid, p.271.
68 Miyazaki, Hayao (2013) Zoku kaze no kaeru basho [The place where wind returns – The sequel] Rockin' on, Tokyo, p.220.
69 Haraway, Donna (2016) Staying with the Trouble, Duke University Press, Durham.
70 Kato (2019) Visual Guide, pp.60-61.
71 Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), p.249.
72 Yoneyama (2019) Animism, pp.43-78.
73 Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), p.12.
74 Ibid, p.262.
75 Ibid, p.266.
76 Ibid.
77 See for instance Shinkai (2019) Tenki no ko (novel), pp.207&262.
78 Ibid. p.283.
79 Ibid. p.296.
80 Ibid. p.295.
81 Napier, Susan (2019) Miyazaki World (Japanese translation, Naka, Tatsushi trans.), Hayakawa Publishing, p.65, p.282.
82 Haraway (2016) Staying with the Trouble.
83 Ghosh (2016) Derangement.
84 Haraway, Donna (2015) ‘Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making kin’, Environmental Humanities, vol.6, pp.159-165. Quotation on p.160. For this point, Haraway references James Clifford, Returns: Becoming Indigenous in the Twenty-first Century (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2013), p.160.