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Hayao Miyazaki Gives 300 Million Yen to Build Kids' Area in Park

Anime director and Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki donated 300 million yen (around US$2.4 million) to the town of Kumejima, Okinawa for the construction of an "Interaction Center for Children" in the town's Zenda Forest Park. The project's supervisor and Miyazaki's friend Tomohiro Horino expects the project to take around two years to complete.

The facility will include a two-story, 1,000-square-meter building. The town has allotted 10,000 square meters of the Zenda Forest Park for the project. The project will solicit opinions and suggestions for the project from the town's citizens on a regular basis.

The project was revealed last year. Miyazaki drew the concept illustration above for the facility.

Miyazaki was also asked by a friend last year to draw a logo for the new facility on Kumejima. The facility is intended for families and Children, who were displaced from Fukushima, to be outdoors; due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station leak after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, there are areas in Fukushima that are no longer safe for Children to play.

Miyazaki has retired from making feature films, but continues to work on short films for the Ghibli Museum, as well as pet projects, including a samurai manga for Model Graphix magazine.

Source: Okinawa Times