News On Japan

Studio Ghibli Awarded Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival

Cannes, May 21 (News On Japan) - Studio Ghibli was awarded the Honorary Palme d'Or in recognition of its long-term contributions to the film industry at the Cannes International Film Festival held in France on May 20.

Goro Miyazaki, the eldest son of director Hayao Miyazaki, attended the ceremony.

The Honorary Palme d'Or is a prize that honors long-term contributions to the film industry. In previous years, it was awarded to Tom Cruise the year before last and Michael Douglas last year. This is the first time an organization has been selected for this award.

The festival's organizers praised Studio Ghibli's work, stating, 'For 40 years, they have brought a fresh breeze to animated films. Their works, full of poetry, humanism, and environmental consciousness, have captivated audiences.'

Studio Ghibli was founded in 1985 by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, along with producer Toshio Suzuki. The studio was established after the success of Miyazaki's 1984 film, "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind," which, while not officially a Ghibli production, set the tone for the studio's future works.

The name "Ghibli" was inspired by the Arabic word for a hot desert wind, reflecting the founders' intention to bring a new breeze to the Japanese animation industry. The studio quickly gained recognition for its high-quality animation and storytelling, often emphasizing themes of nature, humanity, and the supernatural.

In 1986, Studio Ghibli released its first official film, "Castle in the Sky," directed by Miyazaki. This was followed by Takahata's "Grave of the Fireflies" and Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" in 1988, both of which solidified Ghibli's reputation for producing emotionally resonant and artistically stunning films.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Studio Ghibli produced several critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989), "Porco Rosso" (1992), "Princess Mononoke" (1997), and "Spirited Away" (2001). "Spirited Away" became a landmark film, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and becoming the highest-grossing film in Japanese history at the time.

The studio continued to produce notable films such as "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004), "Ponyo" (2008), and "The Wind Rises" (2013). In 2014, Ghibli announced a brief hiatus from feature film production, but later resumed with new projects under the guidance of both veteran and new directors.

Source: ANN

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Japan's prison system is undergoing a major shift as it prepares to introduce "confinement punishment," moving away from traditional penal servitude that emphasized punishment toward a new focus on rehabilitation.

A passenger car was captured speeding across the frame from left to right by a security camera just moments before a fatal crash in Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, that claimed the lives of four vocational school students.

Organic fluorine compounds known as PFAS—suspected to be harmful to human health—have been detected at concentrations exceeding the national provisional target in rivers and groundwater at 242 sites across 22 prefectures, according to a government survey.

The Japanese government will begin issuing blue tickets for bicycle traffic violations in April 2026, with fines including 5,000 yen for ignoring stop signs and up to 12,000 yen for riding while using a smartphone.

A 26-year-old woman was arrested in the early hours of April 24th in Kasuya Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. While admitting to the offense, she claimed, "I ate chocolate that contained alcohol."

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Entertainment NEWS

Bullet Train Explosion is a high-octane thriller set aboard Hayabusa 60, an E5 Series Shinkansen racing from Shin-Aomori to Tokyo — and it can’t drop below 100 km/h, or a hidden bomb will detonate.

For the first time in his life, comedian Nagano—known for disliking romance reality shows—sat down to watch one with TV personality Chinatsu Wakasugi, a self-proclaimed romance reality show enthusiast. The pair viewed the premiere episode of the new series Offline Love together.

A growing number of Japanese gravure idols—models known for their swimsuit photo shoots—are entering the sauna world, fueling a new entertainment trend known as "nettobashi" (heatwave shows). These events feature the idols dressed in swimsuits, vigorously fanning heat across sauna-goers in steamy venues packed with excited fans.

Shonosuke, a 28-year-old rapper from Sapporo, once spent his teenage years in constant fights, arrests, and turmoil. Raised in a single-parent household, his playground was the nightlife district of Susukino, where he ran away from home, dropped out of high school, and was arrested several times for soliciting customers.

What began as a swirl of excitement quickly became a full-blown celebration of galactic proportions as Star Wars Celebration made its triumphant return to Japan, bringing together fans from more than 125 countries for a spectacular weekend of panels, premieres, and unforgettable moments.

This video focuses on the Yorozuya's kabuki performances at the Kanamura-za theatre in Konpira. (Kabuki In-Depth)

The World Expo 2025 in Osaka begins on April 13 and runs until October 13, 2025, on Yumeshima Island in Osaka Bay. With the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” it will showcase innovations in sustainability, technology, and cultural exchange.

It’s easy to dismiss paid followers as a shortcut — or worse, a scam. But here’s a smarter, more strategic way to look at it: paid followers are not the end goal. They’re just the start of a much bigger content-driven journey.