Photo/Illutration Pedestrians pass a poster for “Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiruka” (How do you live?) at a Tokyo theater. (Koichiro Yoshida)

Fans from around Japan flocked to the opening of famed director Hayao Miyazaki’s first full-length movie in 10 years despite the lack of advance publicity.

Miyazaki, 82, announced in 2013 that he was retiring from full-length movie creation, but retracted the comment four years later.

“Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiruka” (How do you live?) hit movie screens July 14 even though no information about the feature was provided beforehand. Even movie critics were denied a sneak preview.

Pamphlets promoting the movie will go on sale at a future date.

In explaining the unusual strategy, Toshio Suzuki, the producer of the movie for Studio Ghibli Inc, said, “In this age of mass information, not having any information becomes a form of entertainment.”

While Miyazaki said he trusted Suzuki, he admitted to being worried about the lack of publicity surrounding his latest endeavor.

The first day proved that Miyazaki’s concerns were groundless.

Almost all of the 341 seats at the Toho Cinemas Hibiya cineplex in Tokyo for the Miyazaki movie were sold out from the first showing on the morning of July 14.

Fans came from as far away as Tokushima Prefecture in the island of Shikoku as well as Shizuoka Prefecture in the Tokai region to share in the experience of viewing the Miyazaki feature with other die-hard fans.

A 17-year-old second-year senior high school student from Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, said she ignored tweets about the movie to heighten her experience of seeing the film for the first time.

“I was able to come and see it because it was a Ghibli production that had the reassuring animation touch and world view of the studio,” she said. “But I wish they had provided a pamphlet because I wanted to understand the movie better.”

While many who saw the movie posted their impressions on social media, others vowed to not reveal details in keeping with the strategy of no advance publicity.

The movie contains autobiographical elements related to Miyazaki’s upbringing during World War II.

It is also an adventure fantasy about a young boy who enters a mysterious tower on the grounds of a family home where he now lives after his mother is killed in a bombing raid.

(This article was written by Atsushi Ohara and Takuji Hosomi.)

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