Newsroom Tokyo (stylized in all caps) is the secondary news program that is currently airing on NHK World Japan, from Mondays to Fridays 20:00-20:27 JST, except holidays, with replays at 21:00-21:27 JST the same day, and 3:00-3:27 JST the following day. The newscast is currently presented by Takuma Yoshioka and Aki Shibuya, with Yuko Fukushima for the business segment.
History[]
Newsroom Tokyo was first premiered on March 30, 2015, and originally aired for 45 minutes. Its original anchors were Sho Beppu and Aki Shibuya (former presenter of Tokyo Fashion Express, from 2012-2015), with Yuko Fukushima for the business reports and Marie Yanaka for the Arts and Culture segment, as well as some anchors from Bangkok, Thailand (notably Patchari Raksawong) for the Southeast Asian reports (later entire Asia).
On March 31, 2017, Yanaka left the show to focus on business reporting as business reporter for NHK Newsline, being replaced by social media star Cathy Cat. On June 9, Beppu left the newscast as he assigned to domestic service. Aiko Doden was served as Beppu's replacement on June 12, until on July 10, Hideki Nakayama, a former NHK Middle East news bureau, officially served as Shibuya's co-anchor.
On March 30, 2018, on the 3rd anniversary of the newscast, Cathy Cat left the show.
On April 2, the newscast was reduced by five minutes, and as well, leaving Nakayama, Shibuya, and Fukushima as the remaining news presenters until July 22, 2020.
On March 30, 2020, coincidentally the 5th anniversary of the newscast, NHK implemented a new policy for referring to Japanese names, following the common practice in the Japanese language of listing the surname first followed by the given name. The new policy extends to all of NHK's English-language programming, including NHK Newsline and Newsroom Tokyo. For example, Shinzō Abe (the Prime Minister) will be referred to as Abe Shinzō under the new policy, and Shinji Aoba (the perpetrator of the 2019 Kyoto Animation fire tragedy) will be referred to as Aoba Shinji.
From April 13 to June 26, 2020, Newsroom Tokyo had been on hiatus due to COVID-19 lockdown in Japan, being occupied by NHK Newsline, followed by Newsline In Depth, as well as other programs for the rest until Direct Talk airs at 20:40 JST. The newscast went back on air on June 29.
On July 22, Nakayama left the show to assign as the news bureau for NHK in Kobe. Takuma Yoshioka replaced him as Shibuya's co-anchor on August 24.
On April 3, 2023, Newsroom Tokyo had reduced to nearly half an hour, from 20:00 to 20:27 JST, to make room for the featured reports from Newsline In Depth, and was rebroadcasted the same day at 21:00-21:27 JST.
The Anchors[]
- Takuma Yoshioka (2020-present)
- Aki Shibuya (2015-present)
- Yuko Fukushima, business segment (2015-present)
- Sayaka Mori, meteorologist, also from NHK Newsline (2015-present)
- Jonathan Oh, meteorologist, also from NHK Newsline (2015-present)
- Kyoko Tashiro, direct from Osaka, Japan
- Patchari Raksawong, direct from Bangkok, Thailand, Asia round-up segment (2015-present)
- Roselyn Debhavalya, direct from Bangkok, Thailand, Asia round-up segment (2015-present)
- Cholaphansa Narula, direct from Bangkok, Thailand, Asia round-up segment (2015-present)
- Dhra Dhirakaosal, direct from Bangkok, Thailand, Asia round-up segment (2015-present)
The Former Anchors[]
- Sho Beppu (2015-2017)
- Hideki Nakayama (2017-2020)
- Marie Yanaka, currently serving as business reporter for NHK Newsline and Newsline BIZ, segment host for Biz Stream, and presenter for Newsline In Depth (2015-2017)
- Aiko Doden, interim anchor
- Cathy Cat