World Journey of My Memory or Journey of the Heart (世界わが心の旅 , Sekai Waga Kokoro no Tabi) is a travel program that was broadcast on NHK BS2 Television from 1993 to 2003. The series featured celebrities from various fields visiting places that shaped who they are as individuals. More than 300 celebrities have appeared in the show's 10-year broadcast, and more than 70 countries have been visited.
Two episodes featured Studio Ghibli cofounders Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. In the first program, Miyazaki visits France and the Sahara Desert to follow the footsteps of the famous early French aviator, poet, and author Antoine de Saint-Expéry. The second center around Takahata's visit to Canada to meet Frederic Back, the animation film maker of "The Man Who Planted Trees".
Miyazaki's episode, "Saint Exupery: A Dream for the Sky - From Southern France to Sahara", aired on May 9, 1998 while Takahata's "Dialogue with a Man Who Planted a Canadian Tree" aired in 1999. They were released on DVD by NHK in July 24, 2004 but has since gone out of print.[1]
Overview
Miyazaki Episode
The episode, "Journey of the Heart, Hayao Miyazaki", is also known as "Saint Exupery Journey - From Southern France to Sahara". It opens with Hayao Miyazaki expressing great admiration for the French aviator, poet, and author Antoine de Saint-Expéry. He recounts reading his works repeatedly when he was a student.
In his autobiography, "Wind, Sand and Stars", Saint-Expéry recounted his time delivering the post aboard an airmail carrier, the "Aéropostale". He flew treacherous mail routes across the African Sahara and the South American Andes. The central incident he wrote of detailed his 1935 plane crash in the Sahara Desert between Benghazi and Cairo, which he barely survived along with his mechanic-navigator, André Prévot.[2]
Miyazaki viewing the ground below, and finally arriving at the Sahara desert.
Hayao Miyazaki, who was 57 years old at the time of the program, hoped to recreate the postal route of his beloved author and aviator to immerse himself of what it was like to fly at that time. He had just released "Princess Mononoke" (1997) and had been searching for inspiration after announcing his early retirement in 1997. Miyazaki flew on a bright red Antonov An-2 biplane to a journey that spanned 4,000 kilometers. During the flight, he expressed mild disappointment, "The scenery that Saint-Expéry saw, whether we can really see it has changed. The building have changed. It’s not just that the car has increased. It's no longer possible to fly with the same tension. So I have to give it up.. For example, in our society, it’s very common... It is generally said that you should live your life in a mediocre way, after all it is not enough. I have to overdo it and make full use of my ability to live. I can't do much."
The trip from Paris to Toulouse proved grueling, but when they finally reached Cape Juby airfield in the Sahara Desert, Miyazaki was in awe. What used to be in the world in books appeared before him in reality. Miyazaki is then seen touching the buildings and feeling the ground. He described it as a trip to his inner self. After his trip to the Sahara, he tells Toshio Suzuki that his feelings towards "Princess Mononoke has finally been settled."
Following his return, Miyazaki drew a new cover for "Wind, Sand and Stars", which was reprinted when the episode aired, and included a postscript by Miyazaki. The cover was also used for this episode and its home release.
Takahata Episode
"Dialogue with a man who planted a Canadian tree"