Director Hosoda Mamoru chose Ueda in Nagano Prefecture as the setting for Summer Wars because of its proximity to his birthplace. The film earned over 18 million USD in worldwide box offices and won the Japanese Academy Award for Animation of the Year in 2010. Hosoda became only the second Japanese director (after Miyazaki Hayao) to be nominated for an Annie Award for his work on Summer Wars. Summ

Director Hosoda Mamoru chose Ueda in Nagano Prefecture as the setting for Summer Wars because of its proximity to his birthplace. The film earned over 18 million USD in worldwide box offices and won the Japanese Academy Award for Animation of the Year in 2010. Hosoda became only the second Japanese director (after Miyazaki Hayao) to be nominated for an Annie Award for his work on Summer Wars. Summer Wars was the first Japanese animated movie to be nominated for the Golden Leopard Award at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland in 2009. The movie also won the Anaheim International Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Animated Feature and the Animation Division Grand Prize at the 13th Japan Media Arts Festival.