Ayako Mie, Neighbor

Ayako Mie is originally from Tokyo, Japan, where she worked as a television reporter for one of the networks.  One of her first assignments was covering Sept. 11 in New York City, which led her to pursue international reporting.  In 2005, she served as a Washington, D.C., correspondent for her network, covering politics and the economy.

But in 2008, when she got a Fulbright grant, she gave up the "glittering" career she built over the prior seven years to go to UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism to improve her reporting skills. At J-school, hyperlocal reporting and getting deeper into communities became her passion, as she wrote for the school's hyperlocal sites, Oakland North and Mission Local. 

She graduated from Cal in May 2010, and started her new life in Rockridge. She is very excited about working for Patch. She covers business, politics and other community events for Albany Patch and Walnut Creek Patch.