From Up on Poppy Hill

Gorō Miyazaki (宮崎 吾朗 Miyazaki Gorō, born January 21, 1967) is a Japanese animated filmmaker and landscaper. He is the son of animator Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of Studio Ghibli. Described as “reluctant” to follow his father’s career, Gorō initially worked as a landscaper for many years before entering the film business. He has directed two films, Tales from Earthsea (2006) and From up on Poppy Hill (2011).

Graduated from Shinshu University, Faculty of Agriculture, Goro Miyazaki started his career as a construction consultant, and he designed parks or public institutions. Because his father, Hayao Miyazaki, is a world-famous filmmaker, he always had complex feeling towards his father. He decided not to work for anything related to animation, to avid to be compared with Hayao. However, the turning point came to his life in 1990s, which was the new project of construction of Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo. He was in charge of the whole design of the museum, and became the first Managing Director. While Hayao was filming “Hauru no ugoku shiro”, Toshio Suzuki, the producer, decided to let Goro direct the next Ghibli movie since he was impressed by Goro’s talent of making decisions quickly and properly, and his ability to draw pictures. Therefore he directed “Gedo Senki”, which is the first step of his career in the animated movie industry. —Wikipedia