Mariko Oi
Mariko Oi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1981 Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, news presenter |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | BBC News Asia Business correspondent, Newsday and Business Today anchor |
is a bilingual journalist from Japan currently based in Singapore. Since 2006, she has been employed by the BBC, becoming their inaugural Japanese reporter.
She frequently anchors Newsday and Business Today (previously known as Asia Business Report) on the BBC News Channel, which reaches an audience exceeding 400 million households globally. Additionally, she contributes business reports for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service. As of 2021, she holds the position of Asia Business correspondent.
Early life and education
Originating from Tokyo’s Setagaya district, her father is employed in the transportation sector.
Her education began at the Sacred Heart School in Tokyo, followed by studies abroad at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, where she resided with a host family and developed her English language skills. With a keen interest in history, she publicly criticized Japan’s educational approach in 2013 for presenting a sanitized view of imperial history. She initially enrolled at Keio University but later transferred to RMIT University in Australia, earning a Bachelor of Communications degree specializing in Journalism in 2004. During her university years, she was active in RMITV and completed an internship with the ABC.
Career
Her professional journey started with internships at Reuters in New York and as an Asia Pacific producer for Bloomberg Television based in Tokyo. In 2006, she relocated to Singapore to join the BBC team.
Throughout her career, she has reported on significant breaking stories across the Asia-Pacific region, such as the 2008 Akihabara massacre, the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami alongside the Fukushima nuclear disaster, President Barack Obama’s 2016 Hiroshima visit, the 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit, Japan’s 2019 imperial succession, the 2019–2020 Hong Kong demonstrations, the 2019 Rugby World Cup hosted by Japan, the COVID-19 outbreak, the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the 2023 Japanese slush fund controversy, the British Post Office scandal, Japan’s market downturn in 2024 following the conclusion of its zero interest-rate policy, as well as major international financial developments including President Trump’s 'Liberation Day' tariffs and the 2025 stock market crash.
In both 2013 and 2016, she spent six months reporting from New York City as a business correspondent covering events at the New York Stock Exchange. She also dedicated six months in London during 2014 presenting news for both BBC News Channel and BBC World News. Oi presented the documentary Missing Histories: China and Japan as part of BBC's Freedom Season. In Japan during 2015, she appeared on several programmes such as Working Lives, analyzing Shinzo Abe’s policies; Talking Business; and the economic series Jump Starting Japan.
Accolades
In 2009, Oi received a nomination for the Nikkei Woman of the Year award. Later, in 2023, she was acknowledged by Newsweek Japan as one of the country’s most esteemed Japanese figures.
External links
- Living people
- 1981 births
- BBC newsreaders and journalists
- Japanese expatriates in Singapore
- Japanese reporters and correspondents
- Japanese television journalists
- Japanese women journalists
- Japanese women television presenters
- Keio University alumni
- People educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne
- People from Setagaya
- RMIT University alumni
- RMITV alumni
- Journalists from Tokyo