Each year, seventh graders at Woodlawn School in Davidson, North Carolina, learn about Japan through a compilation of literature, history, and art. They are introduced to a wide range of ideas and materials: they study the Heian and Tokugawa Periods as well as modern Japan, the code of the samurai warriors, haiku and its components, and Japanese calligraphy and "sumi-e." While this interdisciplinary unit is full of interesting subject matter, the seventh-grade teachers sought a more engaging foothold for students to become personally invested in Japanese culture. The authors therefore decided to harness the entertaining, inviting quality of anime, or Japanese animation, to create a collaborative interdisciplinary project. In this article, an English teacher, visual arts teacher, and social studies teacher collaborate on a project using Hayao Miyazaki's anime film "Spirited Away" to inspire students to create short videos on an environmental theme. (Contains 3 figures and 1 note.)