What do you think?
Rate this book
Mixing Work with Pleasure: My Life at Studio Ghibli
Toshio Suzuki has devoted himself to Studio Ghibli for some thirty years, producing such world-renowned animated classics as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. Early in his career he met the two genius directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and gained their confidence. Working with these two inimitable directors, he experienced the joys and sorrows of filmmaking, and he continues today to guide the studio. Based on his innate inquisitive nature and the accumulated resources of thirty years, Suzuki has recounted in this book the story not only of Miyazaki and Takahata but also the other figures working at Studio Ghibli or in connection with it. It is a fascinating tale, told with penetrating insight and heartwarming humor.
231 pages, Hardcover
Published March 27, 2018
15 people are currently reading
319 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 30, 2019
4.5
This is how memoirs should be written. Toshio Suzuki’s work here is spectacular and insightful. As Ghibli’s eminent producer, this book takes the reader through the nuts and bolts of Ghibli’s founding and the production its films. Suzuki’s characterizations of Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata are vivid and entertaining as hell, and Suzuki often depicts himself in the dual role of pupil and babysitter when it comes to “wrangling” these two creative giants.
I particularly enjoyed Suzuki’s explicit approach of recounting events as HE remembers them, without giving much concern for the objective truth of an event from his past.
This is how memoirs should be written. Toshio Suzuki’s work here is spectacular and insightful. As Ghibli’s eminent producer, this book takes the reader through the nuts and bolts of Ghibli’s founding and the production its films. Suzuki’s characterizations of Ghibli founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata are vivid and entertaining as hell, and Suzuki often depicts himself in the dual role of pupil and babysitter when it comes to “wrangling” these two creative giants.
I particularly enjoyed Suzuki’s explicit approach of recounting events as HE remembers them, without giving much concern for the objective truth of an event from his past.
April 1, 2024
Really cool book about the founding of Ghibli and everything Toshio Suzuki has had to put up with working with geniuses 笑笑 also interesting to see how they've stayed a small company and their influence, as well as how they differentiate to American studios. It'll be interesting to see where Ghibli goes in the future, they seem to have this idea they'll just close one day
May 28, 2025
I took a day or two to think about what I liked the most about this book.
Toshio Suzuki is one of those people who has lived an extraordinary life. Part of those experiences is meeting and working with insanely special and talented individuals including Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. "Mixing Work with Pleasure" was a great read if you're interested in the minds of folks who have worked closely with these men.
Toshio Suzuki is one of those people who has lived an extraordinary life. Part of those experiences is meeting and working with insanely special and talented individuals including Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. "Mixing Work with Pleasure" was a great read if you're interested in the minds of folks who have worked closely with these men.
December 30, 2025
Interesting and entertaining look behind the scenes at the creative process and personalities behind one of Japan's most famous and beloved animation studios. Lots of inspiration here for creatives and people who are fascinated by the creative process. It feels like there will be a lot of takeaways here for me.
January 20, 2026
knowledge about work
July 18, 2022
Heartwarming. It feels like a rare beautiful opportunity to step into Studio Ghibli and observing how people work, how they communicate with each other, how the relationship between the staffs and all.
With every page, I smile, I laugh, I cry. I try to read it slowly, I don’t want this to end. And at the very last chapter this sentimental feelings rushing in as the sentences in the books also turns sentimental, melancholic, and poetic. Indicating the end (of the book and figuratively of Miyazaki-sama & Takahata-sama era at Ghibli).
However, Suzuki-sama close the very last chapter with a beatiful promising parapgraph that gave me ease of mind, “Miya-san, though retired, is working even harder than before. Takahata is actively giving lectures around the country. As for myself, I plan to keep working as long as my services are seen to be use, as long as Ghibli itself is needed.” Doesn’t it make you smile, too?
With every page, I smile, I laugh, I cry. I try to read it slowly, I don’t want this to end. And at the very last chapter this sentimental feelings rushing in as the sentences in the books also turns sentimental, melancholic, and poetic. Indicating the end (of the book and figuratively of Miyazaki-sama & Takahata-sama era at Ghibli).
However, Suzuki-sama close the very last chapter with a beatiful promising parapgraph that gave me ease of mind, “Miya-san, though retired, is working even harder than before. Takahata is actively giving lectures around the country. As for myself, I plan to keep working as long as my services are seen to be use, as long as Ghibli itself is needed.” Doesn’t it make you smile, too?
August 13, 2021
Story from the people behind Studio Ghibli. After reading this I have more respect towards Hayao Miyazaki! He such a brilliant guy with lot of interesting ideas.
March 27, 2023
Studio Ghibli fan reporting for duty!
Right from the start of the book, Suzuki talks about a habit of his: forgetting the past (something that he apparently shares with Hayao Miyazaki, aka ‘Miya-san’). He’s a man who lives in the present, which is why writing this book was not something that came naturally to him; in fact, he ends the book by mentioned that he checked with a colleague who took notes and the timeline showed some discrepancies – a fitting ending, in my opinion. However, I’m glad he allowed himself to be persuaded and was interviewed for this book because it has so much interesting information.
While I knew that Studio Ghibli was for Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, I didn’t realise until reading this that the studio was set up for Miyazaki and Takahata because they couldn’t find many places to product their works! It explains why the studio had such a strong focus on these two directors and why it never seemed to want to aggressively make movies.
Getting to know the behind-the-scenes stories of the movies was, of course, the highlight for me. From Miyazaki’s desire to live in the moment and how he bases his drawings on what leaves an impression on him to Takahata’s desire to be accurate in what he draws – to the point that in order to draw a scene picking safflowers, Takahata read all the books available about the topic, visited three farmhouses, and even wanted to visit a master of the craft (he had to be persuaded to just send his notes to check for accuracy) – I was left impressed by the two directors. They are definitely geniuses in the world of animation!
By the way, another point about Takahata’s insistence of accuracy which I couldn’t fit into the previous paragraph: if you’ve watched Grave of the Fireflies (and if you haven’t, you should because I cried the entire last half of the film), you would have seen an air raid scene. Takahata was so concerned about the direction the B-29s were coming from and how it would play out from where the protagonist was standing that he researched contemporary records, resulting in a historically accurate scene that not many people may notice.
To be fair, let me talk about Miyazaki for a bit. I mentioned Miyazaki’s desire to draw from memory, and that played out after a trip to the Aran islands. Miyazaki drank in the look of an inn and it stayed with him so much that parts of it became one of the houses in Kiki’s delivery service! He’s also the type of person that will watch a movie to see the armour the people are wearing but not follow the story, and he’s the type of person that will interrupt you at work to ask what you are watching and reading to get inspired.
And for the people who know about the theory that the bathhouse in Spirited Away isa prostitution metaphor, I saw an interesting anecdote. In the section on being inspired by casual conversations, Suzuki mentions that Miyazaki took inspiration from a story about cabaret clubs. But it’s not about the sex trade, it’s because of a theory that many of the women who work there are shy and to make a living, have to learn conversational skills. Similarly, the men who go there have to learn to talk to the hostesses. He took this idea of having to learn communication skills to make a living and gave it to Chihiro, who had to communicate with those around her (by contrast, No Face did not and ended up running wild). So yes, Spirited Away was inspired by a story about cabarets but it’s not about the sex trade.
There are many pictures of postcards and other drawings in between the chapters of this book. While you don’t need to know Japanese to read this English translation, and most of the pictures are described in detail, the Japanese on the pictures made me want to read the original Japanese version of this book! I’d probably take a much longer time, but I imagine it would be a rewarding experience as well.
It’s actually pretty hard for me to figure out what I want to say about this book. I had a lot of thoughts while reading it, but I didn’t actually take notes and now that I’m writing this, I find that I’m not sure how to express what I do remember, and I’ve forgotten everything else! I suppose I picked up a bit of Suzuki and Miyazaki’s habits, but without their ability to work as brilliantly [laughs].
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
Right from the start of the book, Suzuki talks about a habit of his: forgetting the past (something that he apparently shares with Hayao Miyazaki, aka ‘Miya-san’). He’s a man who lives in the present, which is why writing this book was not something that came naturally to him; in fact, he ends the book by mentioned that he checked with a colleague who took notes and the timeline showed some discrepancies – a fitting ending, in my opinion. However, I’m glad he allowed himself to be persuaded and was interviewed for this book because it has so much interesting information.
While I knew that Studio Ghibli was for Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, I didn’t realise until reading this that the studio was set up for Miyazaki and Takahata because they couldn’t find many places to product their works! It explains why the studio had such a strong focus on these two directors and why it never seemed to want to aggressively make movies.
Getting to know the behind-the-scenes stories of the movies was, of course, the highlight for me. From Miyazaki’s desire to live in the moment and how he bases his drawings on what leaves an impression on him to Takahata’s desire to be accurate in what he draws – to the point that in order to draw a scene picking safflowers, Takahata read all the books available about the topic, visited three farmhouses, and even wanted to visit a master of the craft (he had to be persuaded to just send his notes to check for accuracy) – I was left impressed by the two directors. They are definitely geniuses in the world of animation!
By the way, another point about Takahata’s insistence of accuracy which I couldn’t fit into the previous paragraph: if you’ve watched Grave of the Fireflies (and if you haven’t, you should because I cried the entire last half of the film), you would have seen an air raid scene. Takahata was so concerned about the direction the B-29s were coming from and how it would play out from where the protagonist was standing that he researched contemporary records, resulting in a historically accurate scene that not many people may notice.
To be fair, let me talk about Miyazaki for a bit. I mentioned Miyazaki’s desire to draw from memory, and that played out after a trip to the Aran islands. Miyazaki drank in the look of an inn and it stayed with him so much that parts of it became one of the houses in Kiki’s delivery service! He’s also the type of person that will watch a movie to see the armour the people are wearing but not follow the story, and he’s the type of person that will interrupt you at work to ask what you are watching and reading to get inspired.
And for the people who know about the theory that the bathhouse in Spirited Away isa prostitution metaphor, I saw an interesting anecdote. In the section on being inspired by casual conversations, Suzuki mentions that Miyazaki took inspiration from a story about cabaret clubs. But it’s not about the sex trade, it’s because of a theory that many of the women who work there are shy and to make a living, have to learn conversational skills. Similarly, the men who go there have to learn to talk to the hostesses. He took this idea of having to learn communication skills to make a living and gave it to Chihiro, who had to communicate with those around her (by contrast, No Face did not and ended up running wild). So yes, Spirited Away was inspired by a story about cabarets but it’s not about the sex trade.
There are many pictures of postcards and other drawings in between the chapters of this book. While you don’t need to know Japanese to read this English translation, and most of the pictures are described in detail, the Japanese on the pictures made me want to read the original Japanese version of this book! I’d probably take a much longer time, but I imagine it would be a rewarding experience as well.
It’s actually pretty hard for me to figure out what I want to say about this book. I had a lot of thoughts while reading it, but I didn’t actually take notes and now that I’m writing this, I find that I’m not sure how to express what I do remember, and I’ve forgotten everything else! I suppose I picked up a bit of Suzuki and Miyazaki’s habits, but without their ability to work as brilliantly [laughs].
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
October 26, 2024
Mixing Work with Pleasure: My Life at Studio Ghibli is essentially a roughly chronological collection of anecdotes of Toshio Suzuki's time working at Studio Ghibli. It is entertaining as well as being enlightening.
I found particularly interesting his musing on originality and memory. Miyazaki studies intently and commits information to memory, be it locations or historical information. But over time memories fade, and imagination has to fill the gaps. This mix creates something original, with a real base: 'What was vague in his mind he would leave to his imagination. Conversely, what had left the strongest impression on him would emerge and stand out. That's how his architectural constructions came to achieve uniqueness.'
Another interesting tangent regarding inspiration, was how close Miyazaki looks to home for his ideas, talking with friends and staff. He quotes Miyazaki as saying "New ideas are within a radius of three meters", expanding to say ' "What is happening in Ghibli is happening in Tokyo. What is happening in Tokyo is happening throughout Japan. What is happening throughout Japan is probably happening throughout the world." That's why he asserted that new ideas could be found within a radius of three metres.'
I couldn't help but laugh of his image of Miyazaki mixing with staff, picking things up off their desks, asking questions. Many listen to music while they work, and being focused, don't notice him by their desk. 'Since it is none other than the great Hayao Miyazaki, the animator hurriedly removes his earphones. Again without a by-your-leave, Miya-san grabs the earphones and sticks them into his ears. After listening for a while, he asks, "What do you find good about this?". As Toshio Suzuki says, this again helps generate ideas, but also to get to know the staff well, their likes and dislikes.
I found particularly interesting his musing on originality and memory. Miyazaki studies intently and commits information to memory, be it locations or historical information. But over time memories fade, and imagination has to fill the gaps. This mix creates something original, with a real base: 'What was vague in his mind he would leave to his imagination. Conversely, what had left the strongest impression on him would emerge and stand out. That's how his architectural constructions came to achieve uniqueness.'
Another interesting tangent regarding inspiration, was how close Miyazaki looks to home for his ideas, talking with friends and staff. He quotes Miyazaki as saying "New ideas are within a radius of three meters", expanding to say ' "What is happening in Ghibli is happening in Tokyo. What is happening in Tokyo is happening throughout Japan. What is happening throughout Japan is probably happening throughout the world." That's why he asserted that new ideas could be found within a radius of three metres.'
I couldn't help but laugh of his image of Miyazaki mixing with staff, picking things up off their desks, asking questions. Many listen to music while they work, and being focused, don't notice him by their desk. 'Since it is none other than the great Hayao Miyazaki, the animator hurriedly removes his earphones. Again without a by-your-leave, Miya-san grabs the earphones and sticks them into his ears. After listening for a while, he asks, "What do you find good about this?". As Toshio Suzuki says, this again helps generate ideas, but also to get to know the staff well, their likes and dislikes.
February 29, 2020
Masterfully written - really captures what it might be like to work with Studio Ghibli as long as Suzuki has. Provides just the sort of behind-the-scenes insight I was hoping for, to the Ghibli films I've known and loved.
Suzuki's writing about life, work ethic, and the role filmmaking/art plays in society was also a pleasant surprise. Supplemented by a rich peppering of interesting, funny, heartfelt anecdotes about the Ghibli's day-to-day production process written by an insider who's been present since the studio's inception - this is truly a gem of a book.
Suzuki's writing about life, work ethic, and the role filmmaking/art plays in society was also a pleasant surprise. Supplemented by a rich peppering of interesting, funny, heartfelt anecdotes about the Ghibli's day-to-day production process written by an insider who's been present since the studio's inception - this is truly a gem of a book.
January 12, 2024
Truly one of the greatest books I’ve read regarding working in the creative industries. Suzuki relays deep, powerful anecdotes from his time corralling the incredible creative forces at Studio Ghibli to create animation hit after animation hit. As a producer, he shares the true realities of his role in driving the creative and business needs of each project, in one of the most honest depictions of the challenges I’ve seen to date. A must read for any aspiring creative producers - it took me 7 years working in games to learn many of the lessons shared inside this relatively short read.
July 2, 2024
Toshio Suzuki has the interesting position of being a sober person inside Ghibli, hahaha. That makes his view on the studio, the films and his creative partners very interesting and fun to read. Learned a lot about the inner structure and the relationships outside of the Miyazaki sphere. I give this a good juicy rating but that doesn’t mean there’s enough of it. This book could and should have been 800 pages at least.
Hope they translate the other Toshio Suzuki books soon.
Hope they translate the other Toshio Suzuki books soon.
June 3, 2019
I probably would have liked this more if I was a fan of Studio Ghibli's's films. But I really enjoyed reading the last few chapters that went into how they managed to stay small, and later further independent, while highlighting the differences between running a creative business in Japan vs. the west.
February 3, 2023
A breezy, insightful memoir chockablock with interesting behind the scenes anecdotes. Suzuki conjures images of an eclectic mix of characters, all of whom are needed to get a Japanese feature over the finish line.
Perfect for Ghibli enthusiasts.
Perfect for Ghibli enthusiasts.
August 26, 2023
Letto la versione Italiana, un libro molto importante, imprescindibile per capire la genesi di alcuni dei più grandi capolavori della storia del cinema, ma anche per imparare a produrre e distribuire film, dall'idea alla sala.
March 11, 2025
Great book about the production process and some of the challenges working with Miyazaki and Takahata. Definitely going to be reading this a few more times as none of Suzukis other books have been translated to English.
September 2, 2020
Lots of good info. Some people have said Suzuki is a credit-hog but it does seem like he deserves the credit. I enjoyed this book a lot!
August 7, 2023
Some interesting insight into Ghibli's working process and philosophy towards things. By the end it felt a bit like phoning it in but it's such a fast read that eh it's fine.
December 9, 2023
Foundational. A producer should be the director's ally.
I see myself re-reading this many times in the future
I see myself re-reading this many times in the future
January 5, 2024
Sehr spannende Anekdoten aus der Produktion einiger der besten Animationsfilme. Natürlich, wie man es von einem Produzenten erwarten würde, teilweise etwas verschönert dargestellt.
April 2, 2024
an interesting look at studio ghibli not the most well written book, part of which was translation interview part of which is the author wasn’t sure what to focus on
April 29, 2024
Good review of the insights of Ghibli's history
Read
November 18, 2025Learn from the best.
February 15, 2021
Wouldn’t look out of place in my own bookcase. Pity it has to return to the library :)
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews