宮崎 駿 (Hayao Miyazaki)

Hayao Miyazaki is an animator, filmmaker and a manga artist. He is the founder of Studio Ghibli, where he created many movies, like "Spirited Away". He was born on the 5th of January, 1941 in Tokyo City. He is also known as the "Walt Disney of Japan".

His father was the director of the Miyazaki airplanes, which manufactured fighter plane parts. Due to his father's career, Miyazaki developed a fascination for aviation and began drawing pictures and airplanes. His mother , however, underwent treatment and was bedridden for most of Miyazaki's childhood. Nevertheless, she remained a positive influence in Miyazaki's life.

Around 1956, he went to Toyotama High School. His influences being shaped around famous manga artists like Osamu Tezuka and Sanpei Shirato.

In 1963, Miyazaki earned a job as an in-between artist on the anime "Watchdog Bow Wow" at Toei Animation, a well known production company in Japan . After a union dispute in 1964, he was made chairman at Toei Animation. There he meets the animator Isao Takahata, who became a longtime collaborator with their most notable films being Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind and Castle in the Sky.

Then in 1965, he married Akemi Omi , with whom he had 2 sons , Goro and Keisuke.

Wait. This is not what I wanted to tell you.

The point is, Miyazaki has always been passionate about his work that he spends many Sundays in the studio. In 2013, he announced that he was going to retire. The television NHK made a documentary showing him in his last days at work. But Miyazaki couldn't stop working. After his "retirement", instead of staying home or going on a vacation, he went to Studio Ghibli and started drawing. He tried retiring three times! One year later , he announced that he will not make any feature films, but he would keep on drawing until the day he dies.

As you have read, Hayao Miyazaki loved to draw from a very early age like other kids, but he kept on drawing and started to create films. It became his Ikigai, stopping him retiring.

If you are having trouble finding your Ikigai, then try observing yourself and see what you do frequently without getting tired.

Here's a book by Miyazaki about the first two years of his career : https://www.amazon.in/Starting-Point-1979-1996-Hayao-Miyazaki/dp/1421561042/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8