Shinkai's films have consistently received highly positive reviews from both critics and audiences, and he is considered to be one of Japan's most commercially successful filmmakers.

Shinkai traces his passion for creation to the manga, anime and novels he was exposed to in middle school.

After graduating from Chuo University Faculty of Literature in March 1996,[6] Shinkai got a job at Nihon Falcom, a video game company.

He worked there for 5 years, making video clips for games and graphic design, including web content.

After winning the grand prize, Shinkai began thinking about a follow-up while he continued working for Falcom.

In June 2000, Shinkai was inspired to begin working on Voices of a Distant Star by drawing a picture of a girl in a cockpit grasping a mobile phone.

Sometime later, he was contacted by Manga Zoo (today a smartphone app), which offered to work with him, giving him a grant to turn his idea into an anime they could sell.

[7] Voices of a Distant Star was followed by the 90-minute The Place Promised in Our Early Days, which was released in Japan on November 20, 2004.

[11] In September 2007, Nagano's leading newspaper, Shinano Mainichi Shinbun, released a TV commercial animated by Shinkai.