Here’s a soundtrack for you today. Soundtracks. They never really make it into the playlist. Truth be told, I’m not really a film kind of guy. My attention span often doesn’t reach until the end of a motion picture or the genre just doesn’t bother me whatsoever. I can’t stand most of the Hollywood blockbusters revolving around superheroes or action figures. No, I’d rather have something dark and dramatic like a Donnie Darko or The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. However, after wandering around for years as ‘that guy who doesn’t like films‘, I have found myself another genre that I like, which is (somewhat unsurprisingly) Japanese animated films. Those that know me might be familiar with my partner’s lifelong adoration for the Japanese style of animation and safe to say: she pulled me along in this adoration too.

Of course, the infamous Studio Ghibli catalogue has long passed in the Jam of Today household, but I have now also taken a liking to some non-Ghibli films. My two favourite films over the last few years are the stunningly animated Suzume (directed by Makoto Shinkai) and Belle, a Studio Chizu production, directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Probably much to your surprise, ‘A Million Miles Away’ (sung by Kaho Nakamura) is already the second song off of the Belle soundtrack to make it into the playlist. millennium parade’s ‘U’ entered the Jam of Today sphere in 2022 already, thus it seems that this film has certainly made an impact on me. It’s surprisingly difficult finding an official video of the eight minute Japanese version of this song on the internet so instead I will hereby post a – what looks like – makeshift 3+ minute music video that apparently turns out to be the official one after all. In the playlist on Spotify, however, you will be able to hear the full 8:01 version which does the film and its soundtrack a bit more justice, in my opinion.