Ghibli Park (ジブリパーク) is a theme park about the popular animated movies by Studio Ghibli. It opened in November 2022, and unlike other theme parks does not feature any rides, but rather let visitors explore into the atmospheric fantasy worlds presented in the various popular Ghibli movies. Just let your imagination run wild in this fantastic park!

Located in Aichi Earth Expo Memorial Park, Ghibli Park is less than two hours from Kyoto by train. The theme park will be about 17.5 acres when completed.

The theme park currently consists of three areas. The main one is “Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse”, an indoor facility that will house exhibits including the Robot Soldier from Castle in the Sky, the Catbus from Totoro, and another recreation out of The Secret World of Arrietty. A second area, “Hill of Youth”, features a shop from Whisper of the Heart and another recreation from The Cat Returns. The third is “Dondoko Forest” with a full recreation of the house from My Neighbor Totoro and a Totoro-themed playground. One of the two areas that will open later (“after 2023”, the park’s press office said) is “Mononoke Village”, referencing Princess Mononoke and her adventure among large forest animal gods. The other is “the Valley of Witches”, which will include some parts from Howl’s Moving Castle, and Kiki’s Delivery Service, about a hardworking young witch.

There is currently no pass that allows visitors to see all areas of Ghibli Park. You must buy separate tickets for each attraction you want to visit.

●Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse: 2000-2500 yen

●Hill Of Youth: 1000 yen

●Dondoko Forest: 1000 yen

●Children under 3 are free of charge; children aged 4 to12 cost half.

The pass of Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse cost 500 yen more on weekends and national holidays than on weekdays.

Millions of baseball fans knew my father, Jack Buck, as the low and rough radio voice of the St. Louis Cardinals(圣路易红雀队). For 40 years, in that funny, friendly style of his, he had served as the heartland’s storyteller, until he had become as beloved as the team’s most admired players.

But to me he was Dad, my best friend, my hero. I followed him into broadcasting, eventually becoming his partner. I began telecasting the big national sports events. I was on the road a lot those days, but still I called my dad after every game. I wanted his input and advice. I wanted it still, on this unbearable night. But Dad couldn’t speak because of the tube in his throat from an operation.

I had a Cardinals game to broadcast that evening. First place was at risk. I’d told the radio station I’d be there. But now I was having second thoughts. How could I go, with my dad breathing his last a few miles away? That afternoon I drove to the ballpark to prepare. That meant mixing with the players, coaches and managers to gather personal stories to share with my audience—interesting things of life on the road, a practical joke played in the clubhouse, how a player had overcome failure. It was a trick Dad taught me.

Dad grew up poor. He sold newspapers as a seven-year-old. Later my father took on various jobs to help the family. At night he worked on his voice by reading the sports pages to his father. Thanks to my dad, I never had to struggle like that. But I shared his appreciation for hard work.

Now the moment I had feared had finally arrived. The next breath Dad took could be his last, and here I was miles away in the broadcast booth(直播间), waiting for the start of the game. “What would you do?” I whispered. The answer came in an instant. Dad had never missed a game in his life, not until he got really sick and landed in the hospital. He wouldn’t want me to miss this one. I sat down behind the microphone, and the Cardinals took the field.

“If kids grow kale (甘蓝), kids eat kale. If they grow tomatoes, they eat tomatoes. But when none of this is presented to them, if they’re not shown how food affects the mind and the body, they blindly eat whatever you put in front of them.” — Ron Finley, a guerilla gardener in South Central LA.

For centuries, educators and researchers have argued that garden-based learning improves children’s intelligence and boosts their personal health. In recent years, concerns related to childhood obesity(肥胖) and young people’s disconnection from nature have led to a more heated discussion of the topic. Tens of thousands of American schools have some form of school garden. Many are located on school grounds and others are run by external community partners. Most are connected to the school’s curriculum. For instance, seeds are used in science class to explain plant biology, fruits are used in social studies to teach world geography and the harvest is used in math to explore weights and measures. Some even use the food from the garden to cook the school lunch.

Given the enthusiasm that surrounds garden-based learning today, it’s worth looking into their overall impacts: Do school gardens actually improve the education and health of young people? Yes, definitely!

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that garden-based learning does generate educational, nutritional, ecological and social benefits. For instance, several published studies have shown that garden-based learning can increase students’ science knowledge and healthy food behaviors. Other research has shown that garden-based learning can help students better identify different types of vegetables as well as lead to more favorable opinions on eating vegetables, which helps kids make healthier eating choices. Many supporters go even further, suggesting that garden-based learning can inspire a variety of healthy changes for the whole family. For some low-income families, the fresh vegetables from the school garden can provide the necessary vitamins and fibre, helping lose weight. Others, like Edible Schoolyard founder Alice Waters, hold the view that the experience in the garden can have a great and positive impact on a child’s worldview.

As part of a long-term movement to improve community health, school gardens can provide a platform for experiential education, create valuable green space and develop a sense of responsibility in the minds and bodies of young Americans.

Microplastics are one of the largest environmental problems we face. They are tiny bits of plastics less than 5 mm long. Now a tiny robotic fish that might help tackle one of the problems of plastic pollution has been invented by scientists in China.

The bionic little swimmers have been programmed to wiggle their way through water collecting microplastics as they go. The robofish are only 15mm long. Yet, they can travel quite quickly as they clean. They move by flashing a laser on and off in their tails. It causes the tail to flap side to side which drives the ‘fish’ forward through the water. As they swim along, any nearby microplastics get drawn towards the robots and stick to them.

Not only is their shape inspired by marine life but also is the material they are made out of. Instead of being made out of the traditional materials used for soft robots that can be damaged easily in the water, this one was made from a material that takes inspiration from mother-of-pearl. Mother-of-pearl is found on the inside surface of clam(蛤蜊)shells. As well as attracting microplastics, the material could also heal itself after being cut, still maintaining its ability to adsorb microplastics. Because it’s so durable and can swim as fast as it does (for how small it is), the researchers say that it could be used for monitoring microplastics and other pollutants in the hard-to-reach places of complex underwater environments.

Microplastics have been found nearly everywhere. They’ve been found in our oceans, on top of mountains, in some of the food we eat and even in the stomachs of some marine animals. One of the biggest problems with microplastics is, because of their size, they are difficult to clean up. This is especially true of microplastics in the ocean. The scientists hope that their tiny fish-shaped robots can one day help tackle this global problem. At the moment, the robofish are something called proof of concept. It just means that the scientists were able to make something that proves their idea worked.

Now that the team has shown that their idea works, they are going to keep working on it. They hope to create new versions that can dive deeper and absorb more microplastics.