Animator expresses remorse for WWII, opposes US air base

Japan's Oscar-winning animator Hayao Miyazaki urged the Japanese government on Monday to maintain the country's 70-year-old principle of pacifism and to drop a controversial plan to build a replacement for a US air base on Okinawa.

Miyazaki, who also serves as a representative of the Henoko Fund, which supports Okinawa's efforts to stop the replacement, said he wants to convey the reality facing Okinawans, the problem of US bases and how local people want the bases removed.

As a pacifist, his concern is fixed on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies on national security and history.