An Impossible Beauty: Love and Desire in Shinkai Makoto’s The Garden of Words

Abstract
This paper analyzes the anime film The Garden of Words (2013), directed by Shinkai Makoto, which is built around Japanese waka poems and tells the story of a love from a previous era. It argues that the beauty of Tokyo lies in the romance with which it entices people.
Presenter Biography
Satoko Kakihara is Associate Professor of Japanese at California State University, Fullerton. Her teaching and research include Japanese modern literature and contemporary popular culture. She is currently working on a project based on the teaching of anime in the United States.