3RD LD: 'Spirited Away' wins Oscar for best animated film.

LOS ANGELES, March 24 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING KOIZUMI'S COMMENTS; CORRECTING SPELLING OF MIYAZAKI'S STUDIO AT 3RD PARA FROM BOTTOM)

''Spirited Away,'' directed by famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film at the 75th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday.

The film, titled ''Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi'' in Japanese, competed against four American movies -- ''Lilo & Stitch,'' ''Ice Age,'' ''Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron'' and ''Treasure Planet.''

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created the separate animated feature film category for the first time last year and presented the first award to ''Shrek.''

It was the first time for a Japanese to win an Oscar since Keiko Ibi won an award in 1999 for the best short documentary for her film, ''The Personals.''

The last time a Japanese movie won an Oscar was in 1995, when ''Miyamoto Musashi'' was chosen as best foreign movie.

Spirited Away  was strongly favored to win as critics rated it highly for its creativity and visual effects.

The New York Times called it the Japanese equivalent of the 1938 Disney animation classic ''Snow White.''

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi congratulated Miyazaki on the award, saying, ''I'm glad to see the world appreciates Japanese cultural works.''

The premier praised Miyazaki's film in a policy speech he delivered in parliament in January in an attempt to urge Japanese to be more proud of their potential in various sectors on the international stage despite the economic slump here that has lasted more than a decade.

The movie had already won the best animation awards from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Created at Japan's Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away was released in the United States on Sept. 20 last year and has raked in revenues of $5.6 million as of March 20.

It was a blockbuster in Japan, grossing more than 30 billion yen, and drawing an audience of around 23 million since its release in July 2001, surpassing records set by the U.S. hit ''Titanic.''

The movie depicts the adventures of Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl who finds herself working at a hot-springs inn that caters to spirits and gods after her parents are transformed into pigs.

Miyazaki's past hit animated films include 1988's ''My Neighbor Totoro,'' and ''Princess Mononoke'' from 1997.

Koji Yamamura's ''Mt. Head,'' a 10-minute movie nominated in the animated short film category at the Oscars, did not get a prize.

At the ceremony, there was loud applause when actress Cameron Diaz announced that Spirited Away had won. People in the audience looked around for Miyazaki to accept the prize, but he was absent.

Officials at Studio Ghibli said Miyazaki is currently working on his next animated work based on a story by writer Diana Wynne Jones.

Security was tight at this year's awards held at the Kodak Theater due to the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Special precautions were taken against possible terrorism, and planes were banned from flying above the theater.

The ceremony was also toned down, and there was no interviewing of celebrities entering the theater.