This poster for a new animated movie From Up On Poppy Hill is from a lamp post here on 15th Ave in Capitol Hill. Hmm, I thought, those little faces look awfully like those of the characters in the animated series Heidi* that we had in South Africa in the 70s, I thought. Sure enough, this is a ‘Goro Miyazaki’ film .. and he is the son of Hayao Miyazaki that produced the original Heidi series. The elder Miyazaki is one of Japan’s greatest animation directors.
*At the time, one of my colleagues at work told us that his daughter started crying when one of the Heidi episodes started on the TV. Why are you sad when Heidi is so happy? he asked her. Well, she knew that episode would soon end, and then she would have to wait a whole long week for the next one. Aww.