Joseph Luster
April 4, 2023 
There have been some positional changes at Studio Ghibli as Japan marks the beginning of the new financial year, with Koji Hoshino officially resigning from his positions as both president and chairperson. After shifting to representative director this month Hoshino will be retiring completely during June’s shareholders’ meeting.
In the meantime, co-founder Toshio Suzuki will return to the role of president that he last held in 2008 right before Hoshino took over the position.
As for the reasons behind this move, Hoshino released a statement saying the timing was right. He cited the end of three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the opening of Ghibli Park back in November and the completion of the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki, How Do You Live?, which opens in Japan on July 14.
There has reportedly been a bit of turmoil within Studio Ghibli of late, including news of Toshio Suzuki using personal reasons for the misappropriation of company resources. Variety reached out to Ghibli to ask if there was any connection to this news and the recent article from Shukan Josei on the matter, but they said his resignation has nothing to do with it.
Here’s Hoshino’s full message from the Studio Ghibli website:
“After 15 years of managing the studio since assuming the position in February 2008, I decided that this was the right time to leave Ghibli following the end of the three-year-long COVID-19 pandemic, the opening of Ghibli Park last November and the completion of Hayao Miyazaki’s latest film How Do You Live? From now on, I will entrust the management of the company to my successor, and I hope that he will be able to lead the new Ghibli.
On a personal note, I, Hoshino, will be 67 years old this May. From now on, I intend to make use of my experience and contacts to take on new challenges in new areas in the future.”
Via Crunchyroll News
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