Hanako Montgomery

International Correspondent

Hanako Montgomery is an award-winning international correspondent for CNN, based in Tokyo.
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A display of "Hello Kitty" items are seen at a press preview of the "CUTE" exhibition at Somerset House in London, England, on January 24, 2024.
Leon Neal/Getty Images/File
Hello Kitty at 50: The mouthless face that launched an $80 billion empire
Nov 1, 2024
She has been a UNICEF ambassador, a special envoy for Japan’s Foreign Ministry and the subject of themed restaurants, cafes, two amusement parks and even a maternity hospital.
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced he will not run for a second term as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party during a press conference on August 14, 2024.
Masamine Kawaguchi/AP
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says he will step down next month, won’t run for re-election
Aug 14, 2024
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced he will step down next month and will not run for a second term as leader of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, following a series of political scandals that have fueled calls for him to resign.
A collapsed house in the town of Osaka, in Kagoshima prefecture, Japan, after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake on August 8, 2024.
Kyodo News/Getty Images
Japan is bracing for a once-in-a-century earthquake. Does it need to?
Aug 13, 2024
Japan’s “major earthquake” warning has put much of the country on high alert, even as some experts cast doubt on whether such an advisory is necessary or accurate.
Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki speaks at an event organized by Mayors for Peace, a nongovernmental organization comprising more than 8,000 cities in 166 countries and regions, at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Nov. 27, 2023, on the sidelines of the second meeting of parties to the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Kyodo/AP
Israel not invited to ceremony commemorating 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki
Aug 1, 2024
Israel will not be invited to this year’s peace ceremony commemorating the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki to promote a “peaceful and somber atmosphere” at the August 9 event, the city’s mayor told local media Wednesday.
An employee handles sheets of newly-designed Japanese 10,000 yen banknotes at the National Printing Bureau Tokyo plant in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Persistent weakness in the yen is raising concerns about the potential for a resurgence in cost-push inflation, likely weighing on private consumption. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg/Getty Images
How Japan’s newest yen note came from the Nepali mountains
Jul 3, 2024
Banks across Japan began stocking their ATMs on Wednesday with shiny new yen notes sourced from an unlikely location – vibrant yellow flowering paperbush shrubs that grow on craggy Himalayan mountains in Nepal.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - JUNE 15: The North Korea team poses before the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Group G match between Brazil and North Korea at Ellis Park Stadium on June 15, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Back Row (left to right) Hong Yong Jo, Cha Jong Hyok, Pak Choi Jin, Ri Myong Guk, An Yong Hak, Jong Tae Se and Ri Kwang Chon. Front Row (left to right) Ji Yun Nam, Mun In Guk, Pak Nam Choi and Ri Jun II. Brazil won the match 2-1. (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images).
Bob Thomas/Getty Images
Inside the world’s most secretive soccer team
Jun 17, 2024
What happens within North Korea’s soccer team has been kept a closely guarded secret since its creation at the end of World War II.
Advert boards of host clubs are illuminated at the Kabukicho entertainment area on November 5, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan.
The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images
She thought she found love in a Japanese host club. Then the bills ballooned – and she was coerced into sex work
Jun 8, 2024
Japan’s “host clubs” sell male companionship to lonely women. But some women end up deep in debt — and are coerced into sex work to pay it off.
A newly-made whaler Kangei Maru is seen in Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture on March 29, 2024. The whaler is owned by Kyodo Senpaku Co., the only company in the world that uses a mother ship-based catcher boat. A signing ceremony for the handover was held on the same day. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )
Tosei Kisanuki/The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
Japan is determined to keep hunting whales. And now it has a brand new ‘mothership’
Jun 5, 2024
Wearing a toy whale hat, whale tie and a whale motif shirt, Hideki Tokoro spends much of his days thinking about the world’s largest mammals. But he doesn’t want to protect them. He wants to hunt them.
Officials from Japan's Transport Ministry enter Toyota headquarters on June 4, 2024
JIJI Press/AFP/Getty Images
Japanese officials inspect Toyota headquarters over safety certification scandal
Jun 4, 2024
Japanese officials descended on the headquarters of Toyota on Tuesday, after a safety test scandal at a number of automakers in the country widened this week.
A newly-made whaler Kangei Maru is seen in Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture on March 29, 2024. The whaler is owned by Kyodo Senpaku Co., the only company in the world that uses a mother ship-based catcher boat. A signing ceremony for the handover was held on the same day. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images )
• Video 2:41
Tosei Kisanuki/The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
Video See Japan’s brand new $48 million whaling mothership 2:41
Jun 3, 2024
The launch of a new $47 million whaling “mothership,” Kangei Maru, has renewed the fears of Japan’s whale hunting practices. CNN’s Hanako Montgomery reports why Japan’s establishment is supporting investment in whaling despite criticism and a decline in whale meat consumption.
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• Video 2:22
AFPTV
Video See what’s it like as Japanese town puts up barrier blocking iconic view 2:22
May 22, 2024
The Japanese town of Fujikawaguchiko has erected a giant black net to block views of Mount Fuji, a reaction to the town’s huge popularity on Instagram and other social media platforms. CNN’s Hanako Montgomery reports.
More than 100 people gathered to do absolutely nothing in the annual Space-out competition held on Sunday in Seoul.
• Video 2:13
Charlie Miller/CNN
Video See what it’s like in a ‘doing nothing’ competition 2:13
May 16, 2024
Seoul’s annual Space-Out Competition aims to challenge the social norm that downtime is a waste and to reinforce that doing nothing can be valuable. Participants are asked to relax for 90 minutes. Those who talk, check their smartphones, move around, or fall asleep are disqualified. CNN’s Hanako Montgomery has more.
Mitsuko Tottori, president and CEO of Japan Airlines, photographed in Tokyo on April 24, 2024.
Daniel Campisi/CNN
The flight attendant who became CEO hopes more women will make it to the top
Apr 25, 2024
Mitsuko Tottori admits Japan has much more to do to get people like her into the chief executive seat.
CNN interview with Japanese PM Kishida
CNN
Japan’s Kishida warns world at ‘historic turning point’ as he touts US alliance ahead of Biden summit
Apr 7, 2024
Spiraling geopolitical tensions have pushed the world to a “historic turning point” and are forcing Japan to change its defense posture, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told CNN Sunday ahead of a closely watched summit with US President Joe Biden next week.
Japanese high-school baseball player Rintaro Sasaki poses for photo in Hanamaki City, Iwate prefecture, on February 20, 2024.
Hiroto Fukumori/The Yomiuri Shimbun/AP
After Ohtani and Kikuchi, Japan high school toasts latest baseball prodigy
Mar 31, 2024
At Hanamaki Higashi High School in Japan’s snowy northern mountains, reminders of distinguished alumni are everywhere. Banners herald Los Angeles Dodgers megastar Shohei Ohtani and Toronto Blue Jays’ pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, their faces greeting every visitor.
People walking past a busy crossing in Tokyo, Japan on November 15, 2023.
Zhang Xiaoyu/Xinhua/Getty Images
Japan just lost its crown as the world’s third-largest economy
Feb 16, 2024
Japan’s economy has contracted unexpectedly because of weak domestic consumption, pushing the country into recession and causing it to lose its position as the world’s third largest economy to Germany.

About

Hanako Montgomery is an award-winning international correspondent for CNN, based in Tokyo.

Before joining CNN, Montgomery was an East Asia reporter for VICE. She helped lead VICE’s coverage on numerous key stories from the region, including the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Halloween crowd crush in Seoul. 

In 2023, Montgomery won a National News & Documentary Emmy Award as well as a Front Page Award for her work covering legal child abuse manga in Japan. She and her team secured rare access to examine the impact of this manga, including artists who actually drew these works, child abusers who consumed it and government representatives who have shirked responsibility for regulating these materials.

While at VICE, her beats spanned breaking news, politics, social issues, culture and the economy, with a focus on Japan and the Koreas. She reported across all of VICE’s formats, including TV, digital video, text, Instagram, TikTok and more. 

In 2022, Montgomery won “Best Factual Presenter in Japan” at the Asian Academy Creative Awards for her documentary about Okinawa prefecture’s hidden poverty. She has also reported for Al Jazeera. 

Prior to joining VICE, Montgomery was a TV Japan reporter for Japan’s state broadcaster, NHK, in its New York office. There, she covered the first major outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as culture and social stories across North America.

Montgomery graduated summa cum laude from Binghamton University. She also spent a year abroad in Tokyo’s Sophia University, where she studied Japanese politics and literature. She is fluent in English and Japanese, and is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).

Born in London and raised in New York City, Montgomery now resides in Tokyo.