Sakurai Reiko has been covering economic and financial news for nearly 20 years. She served as the only economic correspondent for the NHK Washington Bureau during the 2008 global financial crisis, during which she conducted multiple exclusive interviews with prominent figures such as then US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and then World Bank President Robert Zoellick. Reiko is the first senior economic commentator to be serving both NHK and NHK World at the same time.