Bacteria cancels water shows at Japan's World Expo
It comes after visitors also complained that swarms of tiny flying insects had invaded the vast waterfront site where Expo 2025 runs until mid-October.
Nearly six million people have visited exhibits from more than 160 countries, regions and organisations since it opened in April.
Although polls showed that public enthusiasm for the Expo was lukewarm before its opening, organisers say crowds have been growing, especially in recent weeks.
But concerns were raised over environmental conditions at the reclaimed island site in Osaka Bay, which was once a landfill.
Organisers said Thursday that high levels of legionella bacteria had forced them to close an area with shallow water where visitors, including children, could cool off.
That followed a statement released Wednesday saying daily fountain shows with music and lights at an artificial pond had been suspended for the same reason.
They said they were cleaning the affected areas, adding that a decision would come on Friday on whether the shows could resume.
Days before the Expo opened, a level of methane gas high enough to potentially ignite a fire was detected at the site.
More recently, organisers sprayed insecticide to deter swarms of non-biting midges bothering guests.
Also known as a World's Fair, the Expo phenomenon, which brought the Eiffel Tower to Paris, began with London's 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition.
It is now held every five years in different global locations.
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One of the benefits of global travel is learning about customs that make our cultures different. Some of these particularities can be a challenge for Americans. Others, however, may have you wondering, 'Why don't we do things like that here?' The following parenting practices are considered totally normal in these countries, often to the shock of American visitors. But if you're willing to shift your perspective slightly, they also have benefits for kids and parents that might cause us to reexamine our assumptions about what 'good parenting' looks like. 1. Kids in Japan are running errands and walking to school by themselves. You've likely heard of the television program 'Old Enough' ('Hajimete no Otsukai,' or 'My First Errand,' in Japanese.) While the show has been a sensation in Japan for decades, only this year did it amass a U.S. following after its Netflix premiere. It's a reality program that follows young children — ages 2-5 — as they undertake tasks such as going to the store. 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Some do find it helpful to remove any carpeting in their homes, however. 4. Italian preschoolers may do woodwork with hammers and saws. In the Reggio Emilia preschools that were designed in the Italian region of the same name after World War II, children were encouraged to learn through exploration and follow their own interests. The educational philosophy has since spread across the globe, although there is no formal Reggio Emilia certification process, so different schools take inspiration from the approach as they see fit. One sight that's common in a Reggio school — and likely not many other places — is very young children wielding little hammers to pound nails and saws to cut wood in order to build their own original creations. 'Reggio Emilia encourage a wide range of media through which children can express themselves,' Peter Moorhouse, an expert in early childhood education and woodworking, told HuffPost. Parents, says Moorhouse, 'are surprised by just how confident and competent their children are working with tools.' Enticed by the tactical satisfaction of the wood and tools, children practice creativity and develop problem-solving skills as they work, making this one of the most engaging and memorable parts of their first years at school. 5. Swimsuit tops are optional for kids of all genders in Europe. The sight of a little girl running around on the beach or at the pool in only her bathing suit bottom is no big deal to the locals in places like Spain and Germany. While we're used to seeing boys playing in and around the water in only their swim trunks, the idea that little girls don't need any additional coverage is completely foreign to Americans. But why do we insist on bikini tops, or one-pieces that complicate trips to the bathroom, for our girls? Because it's what we expect of grown women? To state the obvious, little girls don't have breasts yet. 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Karen Le Billon, a Canadian who moved with her family to France and wrote a book about her experience, told the BBC that training kids to savor their food this way also limits the phenomenon of picky eaters: 'The French believe that taste is a skill that can be acquired . . . They believe that children can learn to eat, and like, all kinds of food.' Rather than telling a child that a type of food is nutritious or that they have to eat it, says Le Billon, a French parent is more likely to encourage a child to try it because it tastes good. 7. Italian kids tend to go to bed really late. It's not unusual to see a family pushing a stroller around the piazza at 8, 9 or even 10 o'clock at night. Italians dine late, and, like their French counterparts, often dine together as a whole family, even when it means some of the younger members end up conked out in their parents' laps before the evening is over. American parents spend so much time fretting about their children's sleep habits that it's spawned a whole industry of sleep consultants who promise to help train babies and young kids in order to give parents their nights back. Of course, kids do need a solid amount of sleep for their health and growth. While there is at least one study showing that Italian kids get less sleep overall than kids in other countries up until age 6, researchers also found that the 'sleep hygiene' (routines and an environment conducive to uninterrupted sleep) of Italian teens was significantly better than that of American adolescents. 8. It's common for Indian children to be cared for by a number of generations within a family. The individualist, every-nuclear-family-to-itself approach to parenting that is so common in America is far from the norm in many other places where there is a more collectivist philosophy to caregiving. In a study of Indian families spanning decades, anthropologist Susan Seymour recognized the practice of 'multiple childcare, as as opposed to exclusive mothering we see in the United States.' Instead of being tended to all day by a nursing mother, the Indian babies Seymour observed would be passed from one relative to another — including younger family members — so that the mom could attend to her other obligations. 'Children grow up in extended households,' Seymour told HuffPost. She described 'relatives coming and going,' and 'plenty of people to take care of them.' Knowing that this model existed in other parts of the world gave Seymour the confidence to return to work when she had her own children in the U.S. Whether you're leaving a baby with grandmothers and cousins or day care providers and babysitters, there's no reason to think that not staying home with them constantly does any harm to a child's attachment or development. In other words, working moms should drop any guilt they've been carrying and embrace multiple caregiving as normal and healthy. 9. Fathers from the Aka tribe do nearly half of the caregiving. Across the world, the sight of women tending to the needs of young children is ubiquitous. But, there is precedent for men taking on a significant portion of the child care duties. In the nomadic Aka tribe of central Africa, anthropologists have observed that fathers spend 47% of their time within arms' reach of their infants. Roles are interchangeable and flexible. Aka women also hunt while the men do the cooking, and vice versa. Although the tribe's top leadership roles go to men, it is also not unusual to catch sight of an Aka baby suckling for comfort (not milk, obviously) at its father's nipple. Related... Which Type Of Parent Are You? You Likely Fall Into One Of These 4 Styles What Is Gentle Parenting? Here's What You Need To Know Parents Are Lying About Where Their Babies Sleep At Night. 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