Does Makoto Shinkai concentrates on a "distant love" theme for his works? Some of Makoto Shinkai's known masterpieces are Voices of a Distant Star, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, 5 Centimeters per Second, and his latest creation, Garden of Words. I noticed that the plots mostly involves a distant love because of several reasons like literal distance/space, dreams, situations, and other aspects of life. I was just wondering if Makoto Shinkai prefer this kind of theme on his creation and concentrates on a "distant love" theme. Was there any official statements from him that explains the similarity of themes on his works? Or he just relates well to that theme because of personal experience?
Yes I think he do. According to interview with ANN, He would like to emphasize on losing someone and may be the influence of Miyazaki's work

Question: Your previous films have had simple themes and complex emotions; what
would you say is the overarching theme of Hoshi o Ou Kodomo?
MS: It's very difficult to put the theme into one word— if it wasn't I
wouldn't have made a two-hour movie! But if you want me to just say
it, I guess that would be how to overcome a sense of deep loss, the
loss of another person.