Blake Essig

International Correspondent

Blake Essig is an award-winning international correspondent for CNN based at the network's Tokyo bureau.
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716106 CNN Digital Expansion, Blake Essig

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Video Ukrainians fleeing war find asylum in unexpected Asian country (June 2022) 2:59
May 10, 2023
Japan, a country that has been reluctant to accept refugees, is opening its doors to Ukrainians who are fleeing the war. CNN’s Blake Essig reports.
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CNN
Video Japan expands defense of its southern front line to counter China (April 2022) 5:44
Jan 9, 2023
CNN’s Blake Essig speaks with the chief of staff of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force and visits several islands including Ishigaki, Okinawa and Yonaguni to see up close how these idyllic places are becoming Tokyo’s front line to counter China’s aggression.
Toyota employee trains in the paint shop using Microsoft Hololens 2
• Video 23:14
Video Why Web3 is the future of the internet 23:14
Nov 2, 2022
As society continues to integrate technology into every aspect of life, emerging Web3 tech drives the creators and innovators who envision the future of a decentralized internet.
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Twitter / @punichang
Video See what is was like in Toyko when North Korea fired missile over Japan 2:40
Oct 4, 2022
Japan urged residents to take shelter after North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile without warning over the country. The move marked an escalation of Pyongyang’s weapons testing program that prompted immediate backlash from Tokyo. CNN’s Blake Essig reports.
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Video Meet the pioneers embracing design as a greener way of life 23:29
Sep 16, 2022
From overhauling our homes and building sustainable materials to creating alternatives to reach net-zero carbon goals, these companies are inventing new ways to solve the world’s greatest challenges.
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• Video 2:56
CNN
Video Expert: Beijing’s ban on Taiwan’s citrus fruits ‘politically motivated’ 2:56
Aug 22, 2022
As US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a high-profile trip to Taiwan, Beijing initiated a series of military and economic measures to punish Taiwan. Among the measures were a sudden ban on Taiwan’s citrus fruits and two types of fish products. CNN’s Blake Essig reports.
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Rugby Magazine
Video Japan and Tonga deepen ties through rugby diplomacy 4:20
Jun 15, 2022
CNN attends a charity rugby match in Tokyo where Japanese rugby fans have rallied to cheer on and raise money for Tonga which is still struggling to recover after a massive underwater volcanic eruption earlier this year devastated the Friendly Islands.
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Video Fukushima 10 years later: Struggles to rebuild continue (2021) 3:53
Jun 15, 2022
More than 20,000 people died or went missing when an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami hit Japan’s Fukushima prefecture in 2011. The devastation went deeper as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant later became a catastrophe of its own. CNN’s Blake Essig speaks to survivors of Japan’s worst natural disaster.
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Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies
Video New satellite images show Tonga communities covered in ash 0:31
Jan 18, 2022
Before and after satellite images looking down on Tonga’s main island show communities covered in ash following the eruption of a nearby underwater volcano that experts say was likely the biggest recorded anywhere on Earth in more than 30 years.
The Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft carrying the crew of Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his production assistant Yozo Hirano blasts off to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Moscow-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 8, 2021. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)
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Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images
Video See Japanese billionaire blast off into space 1:55
Dec 8, 2021
Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, soared into outer space aboard a Russian-built Soyuz capsule and rocket, kicking off the first self-funded tourism mission to the International Space Station in a decade. CNN’s Blake Essig reports.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 03: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Angels looks on before the game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on October 03, 2021 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
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Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Video To Shohei Ohtani’s superfans, he’s always been an MVP 3:02
Nov 19, 2021
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani has been unanimously voted as the American League’s MVP. CNN’s Blake Essig takes a look at how the baseball superstar’s fan base has rallied around their favorite player.
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 22: Aori Nishimura of Team Japan practices on the skateboard street course ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on July 22, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. The Ariake Urban Sports Park will host skateboarding and BMX cycling events. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
People in Japan thought skate culture was dangerous. Now it’s going mainstream
Sep 1, 2021
Once a niche counterculture in Japan, skateboarding has slowly become more popular – and the sport’s debut at the Olympics on Sunday will only increase its profile.
Bud Kling, pin trading centre coordinator in the CIBC Pan Am / Parapan Am Athletes' Village has a table with pins from various Olympics and sporting events in Toronto, July 23, 2015. (Marta Iwanek/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Marta Iwanek/Toronto Star/Getty Images
‘Each one has a story’: Meet Japan’s Olympic pin obsessives
Aug 7, 2021
Buying and trading Olympic pins has become a global phenomenon, but Tokyo 2020 is a Games like no other for Japan’s memorabilia collectors.
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• Video 2:45
CNN
Video Meet the man with one of the rarest Olympic pin collections in the world 2:45
Aug 7, 2021
Even with spectators banned from the Tokyo 2020 Games, diehard pin collectors and traders are keeping the age-old tradition alive. CNN’s Blake Essig reports.
FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN - JULY 20: A general view of the Fukushima Azuma Stadium ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 20, 2021 in Fukushima, Japan. (Photo by Yuichi Masuda/Getty Images)
• Video 2:42
Yuichi Masuda/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images
Video Fukushima laments ‘unfortunate’ lack of fans for Japan’s Olympic baseball game 2:42
Jul 28, 2021
After a 13-year hiatus, baseball is returning to the Olympics – although no fans will be there to witness it. For the prefecture of Fukushima, that absence is felt even more.
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Video How skateboarding went mainstream in Japan 3:04
Jul 22, 2021
As skateboarding makes its Olympic debut in Tokyo, Japan’s home team is gunning for gold. CNN’s Blake Essig speaks with the Osaka Daggers, a cutting-edge street skateboarding crew, to trace the country’s skateboarding origins and explores how it’s gaining in popularity as it prepares to make a splash at the Summer Games.

About

Blake Essig is an award-winning international correspondent for CNN based at the network’s Tokyo bureau. He is responsible for covering major news from Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.

Essig was instrumental to the network’s coverage of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021. He chronicled the challenges Japan faced in the lead up to, and throughout, the unprecedented Games. His reporting covered the impact of Covid-19, numerous scandals, and the fierce opposition to holding the global event during the pandemic.

He has also contributed to CNN’s Covid-19 coverage, reporting from the China-Hong Kong border in the early days of the initial outbreak and covering the fallout from the Diamond Princess cruise ship disaster in Japan.

Essig has reported on several natural disasters in Asia, including the deadly mudslide in Atami, Japan in 2021 and the Taal Volcano eruption in the Philippines in 2020. He also extensively covered the search operation for a missing Indonesian Navy submarine in early 2021.

Before joining CNN, Essig worked as a multimedia journalist at KTUU in Anchorage, Alaska, covering major breaking news stories including deadly plane crashes, earthquakes, flooding and wildfires.

He produced a five-part series on Alaska’s whalers focusing on the history and controversy surrounding the subsistence hunt, as well as produced a weekly series which profiled people, events and life in one of the most beautiful and unforgiving locations in the world.

While on special assignment, Essig filed in-depth reports from the front line of the war in Afghanistan, he followed a trade delegation from Alaska to China as the trade war ramped up, he produced several long form pieces on the climate crisis and reported from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Essig has been recognized with multiple accolades during his career including seven Edward R. Murrow Awards, three Emmys and a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalism. He graduated with honors from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University.