Studio Ghibli co-founder accused of spending company funds on Thai girlfriend

Studio Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki is caught up in a scandal after being accused of spending the Japanese animation studio’s money on his Thai girlfriend “Kanyada,” who he has been seeing since 2013.

The current president of the company, Koji Hoshino, said he is retiring from the company at the end of June due to Suzuki’s misappropriation of company funds directed toward his Thai lover. Hoshino said the company has been “neglecting a problem for many years. It is producer Toshio Suzuki.”

In 2013, former studio president Suzuki fell in love with Kanyada “May” Pratan and spent his own money helping her to open a spa as well as a restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 29 – May’s Garden House Restaurant – which fell into liquidation and closed down in 2018.

That same year, Studio Ghibli opened the ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ Cafe in…