Cinema of Japan

A Japanese city is launching a crowdfunding campaign to help preserve a special spot of woodland: The forest that inspired the animator of beloved movie "My Neighbour Totoro."

The city of Tokorozawa outside Tokyo plans to buy the 3.5-hectare "Totoro Forest" for 2.6 billion yen ($19 million), with crowdfunding covering just a small portion of that, a city official told AFP.

Known as the Mikazuki Munechika, this special sword was crafted by the legendary Sanjo Munechika

In collaboration with the Japan Foundation and the Embassy of Japan in Greece, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation is hosting a film festival dedicated to Yasujiro Ozu and Kenji Mizoguchi, two masters of classic Japanese cinema, on February 13-15. The screenings include two internationally acclaimed movies by each director at the Cacoyannis Foundation.

A car chase by police ended on Monday morning when a jeep crashed into a pastry shop in central Thessaloniki, northern Greece, causing extensive damage.
The incident occurred shortly before 5 a.m. when the jeep driver refused to comply when police signaled for him to pull over.

The exhibition "Destinations," currently on display at Athens International Airport, offers viewers a sense of the magic of theater through precious items used in memorable productions by the National Theater of Greece. Costumes and rare photographic material from the NTG's archives shed light on significant moments in the history of this great cultural institution. 

The record highs in employee hirings registered earlier in 2018 have been all but offset by the departures of this fall, which in October reached an unprecedented level.

"Landscape in the Mist" by late Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos has been voted among BBC Culture's 100 greatest foreign-language films.

The 1988 film, a coming-of-age story about two young souls in search of their father, won the 1988 Venice Film Festival Silver Lion.

The strongly seasonal character of the Greek labor market was clear to see in August's job hiring and departure statistics. The tail end of summer was accompanied by a reduction in the number of jobs by 7,748, mainly due to an increase in redundancies by hotels and food service enterprises - and that was despite hirings in private education.

More job losses than hirings were recorded in July, the peak of the tourist season, the latest data from the Labor Ministry's Ergani database revealed.

Last month, 239,080 people started new jobs while 247,690 left their positions, producing a negative balance of 8,610. Of the total departures, 96,375 were voluntary and 151,315 comprised contract terminations.

For the second July during the crisis, there were more job losses than hirings last month, the peak of the tourist season, the latest data from the Labor Ministry's Ergani database showed.