Japan Wrap-Up, Goodbye to the LA House, and Why Ghibli Park Feels Like Poetry While Disneyland Feels Abusive

We’re back from Japan in full, and we’ve got a lot to catch up on. We hadn’t told you about Ghibli Park yet — Ione became a “soft girl” walking through the sets of Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s house, and Ben has thoughts on why Disneyland feels punishing while Ghibli felt nourishing. We saw Shonen Knife live in Tokyo (Ione is still not over it), played a show in Osaka at Flake Records, made a music video with Mophing People, and had a sushi meal in Kyoto where the waitress thought Ione was Nicole Kidman. Back in Sydney, we’ve officially said goodbye to our LA house — a space that held so much more than just our family. That chapter’s closed. On the culture front: we’ve been deep in the Golden Life (the original Real Housewives of New York cast in Palm Beach — a gift), obsessed with Kate Berlant’s HBO special, and playing the Spike Fuck album “Evidence” on repeat, which feels like it could have been made in any decade and will always be good. We also get into Kubrick’s Lolita, the art of letting disturbing stories be disturbing, and Ben’s upcoming Inner West Ale Trail — four gigs at four breweries in one afternoon.