Yoshiaki Nishimura

is a Japanese lead film producer formerly of Studio Ghibli and founder of Studio Ponoc. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2014 for The Tale of Princess Kaguya and received a consecutive nomination in 2015 for When Marnie Was There in the same category.

Career On Sunday, September 1, 2013, Hayao Miyazaki held a press conference in Venice to confirm his retirement, saying: "I know I've said I would retire many times in the past. Many of you must think, 'Once again.' But this time I am quite serious." In March 2014, Toshio Suzuki retired as producer and assumed the new position of general manager. Yoshiaki Nishimura replaced Suzuki in the producer role.

On August 3, 2014, Toshio Suzuki announced that Studio Ghibli would take a "brief pause" to re-evaluate and restructure in the wake of Miyazaki's retirement. He stated some concerns about where the company would go in the future. This led to speculation that Studio Ghibli will never produce another feature film again. On November 7, 2014, Miyazaki stated, "That was not my intention, though. All I did was announce that I would be retiring and not making any more features." Lead producer Yoshiaki Nishimura among several other staffers from Ghibli, such as director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, left to found Studio Ponoc in April 2015, working on the film Mary and the Witch's Flower.

Filmography 2004: Howl's Moving Castle (film) 2013: The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness 2013: The Tale of Princess Kaguya 2014: When Marnie Was There 2017: Mary and the Witch's Flower 2018: Modest Heroes 2021: Tomorrow's Leaves 2023: The Boy and the Heron (co-producer) 2023: The Imaginary