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Steve Alpert is a former senior executive at Studio Ghibli. He published a memoir detailing his work in the studio in 2020.
Alpert is a native of the state of Connecticut in the United States,[1] and was hired by Studio Ghibli after first working at Walt Disney Studios's Japanese arm.[2] He worked at the animation studio for 15 years between 1996 and 2011 as a senior executive,[3] heading their international department[4] and acting as their spokesperson with foreign third parties during that time.[5] He represented the studio in negotiations with Disney and Miramax Films.[6] During the production of the English dub of Princess Mononoke (1997), Alpert assisted Neil Gaiman with the translation of the script.[7]
In 2020, Alpert published Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man, a memoir about his co-residence with Miyazaki and experiences working at the animation studio.[1] The cover features Castorp, a character from The Wind Rises (2013) based on and voiced by Alpert.[8] It was originally published in 2016 as a Japanese-language edition titled I Am a Gaijin: The Man Who Sold Ghibli to the World.[a] Stone Bridge Press published the English version and included it in a bundle on Japanese culture in 2022.[9]
Tokyo Weekender's Nick Narigon felt that the book "humanizes" Miyazaki, a divergence from other accounts of that focus on his "eccentricities and notoriously demanding work ethic."[6] Andrew Osmond, reviewing for Anime News Network, appreciated the comedic anecdotes featured in the book and found the prose in between "dry, but still hugely enlightening."[10] Publishers Weekly, however, wrote that the book's "workmanlike" writing would more easily attract an audience of foreign immigrants in Japan than fans of Studio Ghibli works.[11]
- ——— (2020). Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man: 15 Years at Studio Ghibli. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-6117-2057-0.
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