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.

One of the final stages of CNN International's long-running revamp kicked off early Monday with the unveiling of its freshly rebranded news shows, "World Business Today" and "World Report", which replaces the network's legacy programs, "CNN Today", "Your World Today" and "World News".

World Report title card.

World Report, Hong Kong

World Report, London.

World Business Today title card

World Business Today, from London and Hong Kong.

Along with a new network logo and positioning statement, the new look shows were rolled out just hours ahead of the debut of CNN International's flagship program, "Amanpour", and the launch of a new weeknight news bulletin, "World One".

** Video examples of the relaunched programs are available by clicking the pictures above.

Monday will bring forth a number of changes to CNN International and it's lineup of shows. CNN Today, World News, World News Asia, and Your World Today will all become World Report. Guillermo Arduino's weekly World Report show will become World View.

European primetime programming will have two new shows added to its lineup, World One, hosted by Fionnuala Sweeney, and Amanpour hosted by Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

The network will also sport a new logo, which can be seen in an Amanpour promo here.

World One

'World One', hosted by Fionnuala Sweeney, is a fast-paced international news bulletin, designed to keep viewers across the day's major stories. 'World One' delivers everything you need to know about the world's biggest stories in a punchy half-hour format. The programme will showcase the network's best news reports and deliver the latest news headlines from across the globe. Every day, 'World One' will showcase a special segment that brings you closer to one part of the world and 'In Focus' will be a deeper look at an international news story. With Fionnuala's expertise and extensive knowledge of international affairs, 'World One' is designed to become appointment viewing for anyone who wants to keep on top of the news.

Amanpour

On 21st September (22nd in the Asia Pacific region), CNN International launches its centrepiece, the highly-anticipated 'Amanpour' programme. This interview programme, hosted by the internationally renowned and multi-award-winning journalist Christiane Amanpour, will aim to set the agenda for a new global conversation. Each half-hour show will focus on a single topic; often news-driven, often provocative, bringing to bear Christiane's vast journalistic experience and depth of knowledge honed from a quarter of a century reporting from around the world, alongside some of the major influencers and newsmakers of the day.

More information is forthcoming and will be posted as it becomes available.

CNN International's World Report has a new look. What do you think? Personally, I think... just from seeing the website... this looks like a package that could've been used for Next@CNN or The Music Room.

Click the comment button below to share your thoughts.

Now that the holidays are over, we're getting back into the swing of things here at CNN Observations. We hope you had a great one!

• CNN International has (finally) launched updated pages for some of their programs, including their new program The Campaign Trail hosted by former Insight host and CNN/I Jonathan Mann. The new/updated program pages include The Campaign Trail, Inside Africa, International Correspondents, The Screening Room, and World Report.

• CNN's Washington D.C.-based America Bureau Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena has a new photo on her bio page:


• FishbowlDC is reporting that CNN Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash and CNN National Correspondent John King are engaged. Best of luck to the both of them!

CNN International is celebrating CNN World Report's 20th Anniversary with an anniversary special airing this weekend.

Saturday, October 27th - 1830 GMT (Europe)

At 0900 gmt, CNN/I came out of the commercial break and into a "Live Event". Shihab Rattansi at CNN Center welcomed viewers of "CNN USA" as we saw live pictures from Vatican City, as President Bush was due to meet Pope Benedict XVI for the first time. Ed Henry was live in Rome talking to Shihab.

The replay of Larry King Live continued in progress at 0915 gmt on both CNN/I and CNN/US.

Later, at 1348 gmt, Rosemary Church in the Atlanta studio interrupted World Report to bring a "Live Event", a news conference with President Bush and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi in Rome.

This continued until around 1420 gmt, where we then joined "We Were Warned: Out Of Gas" in progress.