Miyazaki’s 'Nausicaa' and Nintendo's 'Wind Waker'

The best remakes of the Odyssey are from Japan.

Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki has written: “I have been fascinated by (Nausicaa) ever since I first read about her in Bernard Evslin’s Japanese translation of a small dictionary of Greek mythology. Later, when I actually read the Odyssey, I was disappointed not to find the same splendor in her there as I had found in Evslin’s book. Nausicaa reminded me of a Japanese heroine [in the Heian period, 794-1185] -- she was called the ‘princess that loved insects.’ …Unconsciously, Nausicaa and this Japanese princess became one person in my mind.”

Below is an image of the forest that allegedly inspired Princess Mononoke - the ancient Yakusugi (cedar) forest on Yakushima (Yaku Island) in the Ōsumi Islands just south of Kyushu.

Then there is Nintendo. When I was on a ferry in the Aegean for the first time, it occurred to me that the best remake of the Odyssey is Nintendo's Wind Waker. What drives the popularity of both masterpieces is the notion of the wandering hero, a tiny figure zipping across expansive oceans to find new islands, new adventures, new monsters, all inspired, of course, by a woman.