CNN International has announced a week-long series of special reports and dedicated programming as Japan prepares to mark the one year anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Details on the special coverage - which begins Monday - from CNN below.

CNN Press Release: CNN’S ‘REBUILDING JAPAN’ PROGRAMMING WEEK HIGHLIGHTS NATION’S ROAD TO RECOVERY

As Japan marks a year since the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, CNN International and CNN.com bring global viewers a week of live reports, features and in-depth interviews.

A year after the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck Northern Japan, CNN is focusing on the country's remarkable journey to recovery in a special week of programming, ‘Rebuilding Japan'.

Beginning March 5, the ‘Rebuilding Japan' week features live daily reports from Anna Coren in Tokyo and the Tohuku region, as well as in-depth reportage from Coren, Kyung Lah and Andrew Stevens from around the nation. ‘Rebuilding Japan' will also include in-depth feature interviews on ‘Talk Asia' with Japanese soccer star Homare Sawa and one of Japan's most respected business executives and founder of Uniqlo, Tadashi Yanai. A special half-hour show, ‘Rebuilding Japan' brings highlights from the week's coverage and will air on March 10th - 14th. CNNGo is also turning the spotlight on Japan, with an edition from Osaka and Kyoto first airing on March 14th.

‘Rebuilding Japan' also features extensive online coverage and a special iReport initiative calling on people to share their photos and videos of life in Japan before and after the tsunami. The iReport initiative has already begun receiving submissions and can be accessed here. The best stories and videos will be featured on CNN.com.

On-air coverage encompasses a wide range of special reports, including:

Talk Asia - This half hour interview hears from Tadashi Yanai, the retail billionaire behind the Japanese clothing giant Uniqlo and Japan's wealthiest man according to Forbes Magazine. Within weeks of the tsunami, the 62 year old was recognized for his humanitarianism, donating $12.2 million of his personal fortune towards relief efforts, on top of the $4.9 million donated by his company. Yanai shares his outspoken views of what he thinks Japan needs to do to fully get back on its feet.

Talk Asia - Homare Sawa is the captain of the Japanese women's national soccer team who led her country to victory against the United States at July's Women's World Cup. Not only was the win one of the country's greatest sporting achievements, it was a much needed injection of morale for a nation still recovering from the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Energy Shifters - The legacy of the Fukushima disaster may have created a shift in energy policy, highlighting a need to move away from monolithic energy providers like Tepco to smaller sources. ‘Rebuilding Japan' looks at recent moves by local governments and corporates to change the energy dynamic.

Young Tech Giants - The Yen and supply chain problems have made it difficult to make manufacturing in Japan profitable so the new wave of entrepreneurs in the country have stopped selling things and started selling ideas. Gree CEO Yoshikazu Tanaka is Asia's youngest self-made billionaire and Mixi CEO Kenji Kasahara runs one of the nation's largest social networks. ‘Rebuilding Japan' talks to some of the names behind Japan's successful and growing tech sector.

Youth Volunteerism - Young people in Tokyo like Takashi Tachibaha are giving up their monied jobs and lifestyles and moving to the tsunami zone. Tachibaha gave up his successful career in Tokyo to set up a fishing company with eight other fishermen in Ogatsu, to help revive the fishing town that was totally destroyed by the tsunami in March. He's part of a youth movement that's sprung up in the wake of the disaster-a generation that has found a way to give back to their country.

China Tourism Recovery - Chinese visitors are a rare ray of light in Japan's hard-hit tourism industry. Visitors from Mainland China and Hong Kong are on the rise and they are big spenders too, hitting Japan's department and electronics stores. CNN looks at how Japanese businesses are hoping to make the most of the growing number of Chinese visitors.

Sendai's Reconstruction Boom - The city at the center of the Tohoku region, Sendai has become a hub for reconstruction and new business. Construction workers are looking for housing and materials, and businesses once teetering on the edge are now seeing the best year in decades.


Airtimes (all times are in HKT)

Daily Reports and Coverage

Monday March 5 to Friday March 9 at 0800 (live reports) on ‘World Report'
Monday March 5 to Friday March 9 at 2200 on ‘World Business Today'


Talk Asia: Tadashi Yanai

Friday, March 2 at 1830
Saturday, March 3 at 2100
Sunday, March 4 at 0730, 1430
Monday, March 5 at 0930
Tuesday, March 6 at 1630
Thursday, March 8 at 1330


Talk Asia: Homare Sawa

Friday, March 9 at 1830
Saturday, March 10 at 2100
Sunday, March 11 at 0630, 1330
Monday, March 12 at 0830
Tuesday, March 13 at 1530
Thursday, March 15 at 1230


CNNGo

Wednesday, March 14 at 1730
Saturday, March 17 at 1230
Sunday, March 18 at 1930


Special Half Hour

Saturday, March 10 at 0030, 2200
Sunday March 11 at 1730
Monday March 12 at 1130, 1530
Tuesday, March 13 at 1730
Wednesday, March 14 at 0030, 1230


* CNN International is a 24-hour news channel which reacts to live events and breaking news. Therefore, program schedules are subject to change at short notice.

CNN continues breaking news coverage of the earthquake in Japan. The network has advised of their current deployments and coverage plans for the rest of Friday.

CNN Press Release: An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, triggering tsunamis and sending a massive body of water filled with debris that included boats and houses inching toward highways. A tsunami in the Pacific was moving closer to other shorelines in other countries like Hawaii and Guam, said CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.

CNN's Tokyo-based correspondent Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) has been covering this story since it broke in the 1aET hour. CNN's Seoul-based correspondent Paula Hancocks (@phancocksCNN) has also joined Lah in Japan. Both teams are currently en route to Sendai, Japan, which is located near the quake's epicenter.

Additional CNN correspondents heading to Japan to cover this developing story include:

CNN Hong Kong anchor Anna Coren
CNN's national correspondent Gary Tuchman
CNN's Atlanta-based correspondent Martin Savidge
CNN en Español's Fernando del Rincon
CNN anchor and special correspondent Soledad O'Brien
CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN radio correspondent Steve Kastenbaum

Watch video from CNN's Tokyo bureau while the earthquake struck:


CNN International started broadcasting breaking news at 1am ET live from Tokyo and Atlanta.

CNN started simulcasting CNN International at 1.12am ET when the extent of the earthquake became known.

***

CNN International/CNN-US simulcasts

Friday, March 11 (all times eastern):

3-5p.m. John Vause and Brooke Baldwin
5-7p.m. Kristi Lou Stout [sic] and Wolf Blitzer
7-8p.m. Kristi Lou Stout [sic] and John King

CNN-US primetime will be live throughout the evening:

8:00 pm In the Arena
9:00 pm Piers Morgan Tonight
10:00 pm Anderson Cooper 360

*Subject to change.

Jason Carroll

Kyung Lah

Richard Roth

Abbi Tatton

CNN Newsource correspondent Kyung Lah has been appointed as a Tokyo-based international correspondent assigned to cover Japan and other regional assignments; it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN.

As a national correspondent for CNN Newsourse based in Washington, D.C., Lah covered major news stories including the Virginia Tech and Amish school shootings, the recent “Jena 6” racial demonstrations as well as political stories for approximately 800 CNN Newsource partner stations.

Lah recently worked on assignment in Tokyo for CNN International covering a broad range of business, technology and sporting stories including the dramatic China Air plane crash in Okinawa and growing concern over the safety of nuclear facilities situated in earth quake zones.

“To be able to recruit such a strong candidate for an international assignment from within CNN shows the depth of skills and talent that we have across our networks,” Khosravi said. “Kyung has a real passion for international news, and her Newsource experience will be invaluable as she serves the demands of CNN’s many networks and services.”

Lah joined CNN Newsource from KNBC-Los Angeles, where she served as a morning news reporter for Today in L.A. and as a midday anchor. During her time at KNBC, she covered such stories as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s election as California’s governor, the 2003 California wild fires and the Michael Jackson trial. Prior to that, Lah was a reporter in Chicago for the CBS affiliate, WBBM.

In San Diego, Lah worked as a general assignment and long-form investigative reporter at ABC affiliate KGTV, where she won a regional Emmy for specialty reporting. Her first reporting position was at CBS affiliate, WWMT in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Born is Seoul, South Korea, Lah graduated with honors from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.