Although Jirou Horikoshi's nearsightedness prevents him from ever becoming a pilot, he leaves his hometown to study aeronautical engineering at Tokyo Imperial University for one simple purpose: to design and build planes just like his hero, Italian aircraft pioneer Giovanni Battista Caproni. His arrival in the capital coincides with the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, during which he saves a maid serving the family of a young girl named Naoko Satomi; this disastrous event marks the beginning of over two decades of social unrest and malaise leading up to Japan's eventual surrender in World War II.


Steve Alpert is a former senior executive at [Studio Ghibli](https://anilist.co/studio/21/). He traveled with, accepted awards on behalf of, and worked closely with [Hayao Miyazaki](https://anilist.co/staff/96870/) from 1996 to 2011.

Alpert studied Japanese Literature at Columbia University under Donald Keene and Edward Seidensticker. He speaks Japanese and Chinese fluently, having lived in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Taipei for a combined total of over thirty-five years. He worked in Tokyo as a vice president at a major bank, as president of an American TV animation company, and as the head of international sales at Ghibli. He has translated more than a dozen Japanese films and several short works of Japanese fiction.

In June 2020, Alpert released a book titled; "[Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli](https://www.stonebridge.com/catalog-2020/Sharing-a-House-with-the-Never-Ending-Man)." The book depicts what it was like to work for Ghibli, and its reigning genius Hayao Miyazaki. He describes hauling heavy film canisters of [Princess Mononoke](https://anilist.co/anime/164/) to Russia and California, experiencing a screaming Harvey Weinstein, dealing with Disney marketers and triumphantly attending glittering galas celebrating the Oscar-winning [Spirited Away](https://anilist.co/anime/199/).

(Source: Stone Bridge Press)

Werner Herzog is a German film director, screenwriter, actor, and opera director. Herzog is considered a figure of the New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who are in conflict with nature.

Hans Castorp