Mom cut me out an interesting article back in July and thought I'd
 bring it to everyone's attention. It was taken from The Orlando
 Sentinel.
 DISNEY TO MARKET FILMS FROM JAPAN
 TOKYO -Walt Disney Studios agreed Tuesday to distribute the work of
 Japan's top maker of animated films in a deal that heralds a new step
 by the U.S. giant into Asia and opens a creatie pipeline for it back
 home.
 No money changed hands in the deal between Walt Disney Studios and
 Japan's Tokuma Shoten Publishing., under which Disney will distribute
 animated movies made for Tokuma by Hayao Miyazaki, one of Asia's top
 animators.
 Officials of the two companies said that the agreement calls for
 distribution of eight of Miyazaki's animated films on video as well
 as his new animation feature "Princess/Mononoke" (Princess/Ghost)
 to be released in 1997.
 Joe Roth, chairman of Walt Disney Studios described Miyazaki's
 work as "extraordinary" and said in a satellite linkup from Disney
 headquarters in Burank, California., that Disney's extensive
 distribution network would show Miyazaki's movies to tens of millions
 of people.
 Miyazaki is Japan's most popular animated filmmaker, creating box
 office hits such as Nausicaa Of The Valley Of the Wind and My Neighbor
 Totoro, featuring a rabbitlike sprite. Since 1989, Mizayaki has had
 five box office hits in Japan.
 He is equally popular in other parts of Asia, particulary Hong Kong and
 Taipei, where Totoro is a favorite of children.
 "We believe we can increase the marketability of our videos by letting
 Disney do the whole distribution because of Disney's strong sales
 network, " said Yasuyoshi Tokuma, president and chief executive of
 of The Tokuma group.
 Disney plans to distribute other movies from the studio. A Disney
 official said the Japanese-language movies would be dubbed into local
 languages.
 The first to be distributed will be Shall We Dance, which was one of
 Japan's top box office hitsthis year. The movie, a romantic comedy
 set in Tokyo is about a middled-aged businessman learning social
 dancing.
 "These kinds of tie-ups are likely to take place more between Hollywood
 and Japanese companies in the future," said Tsuyoshi Taniguichi, an
 analyst at Nikko Research Center.
 Taniguchi said Japanese animators have a high reputation, and the
 agreement is good for Disney since media companies need large amounts
 of programming for the ever-growing number of television channels.
 Hidekazu Umemura, analyst at Yamaichi Research Institute of
 Securities and Economics Inc. said the deal makes Disney a bigger
 player in Asia and could signal further deals to act as distributor
 for filmmakers in the region.
 "Disney must be thinking that the agreement could be another step
 for it to expand business here further," Umemera said.
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