Anime film director Miyazaki Hayao (64) is one of just two Japanese to make Time magazine’s latest list of the world’s “most influential people,” published on Sunday. Miyazaki was inluded in the category of “Artists and Entertainers,” while Toyota vice president Katsuaki Watanabe, who will take over as company president in June, is among the “Builders and Titans.” Miyazaki is one of the few Japanese to have won an Oscar – he won for the best animated feature in 2003 with “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away). The film also took the Golden Bear award in the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.
• Another prominent director, Koreeda Hirokazu (42) has announced the star of his next project. “Hana Yorimo Naho” will have boy band V6 member Okada Shunichi (24) in the lead role. It will be the first period drama for Koreeda, whose film “Dare Mo Shiranai” (nobody Knows) was acclaimed at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.