MONDAY:

Hideki Matsui

Dubbed 'Godzilla' for his batting abilities, Hideki Matsui is one of the most successful Japanese baseball players in Major League Baseball. He became a national hero in Japan with his down to earth approach playing for the Yomiuri Giants, before signing a three year contract with the New York Yankees in 2003 - and then another four year for US$52 million in 2006. Despite a couple of major injuries and tough New York fans, he tells CNN's Maggie Lake he enjoys his life with the Yankees and in the United States. Talk Asia gauges the opinion of fans towards Matsui on game day and explores a restaurant chain created in his honour - as the man himself discusses his career, his favourite players and life off the field.

TUESDAY

Rinko Kikuchi

She stunned global cinema audiences with her controversial and Oscar nominated performance as a lonely deaf girl in the film Babel. Rinko Kikuchi is one of Japan's hottest young actresses and models, recently working with Karl Lagerfeld as the new face of Channel. Despite her success, she remains an unconventional figure in Japan, at odds with the traditional demure image of woman and forging a career on her own terms.

Talk Asia follows her on a modelling assignment, discusses how her life has changed since Babel and revisits the unique location of one of the film's most important scenes.

WEDNESDAY

Yohji Yamamoto

One of the world's great fashion designers, Yohji Yamamoto has helped blaze a trail for Asia over the last three decades. Talk Asia tours one of his ateliers and showrooms in Tokyo, before moving to Paris for Fashion Week, where Yamamoto opens the doors to a model casting session for the first time. Known for his distinctive black, mimimalistic style, he discusses how he perceives his own impact on fashion, his ethos behind running a business empire and how he practices Karate to relax.

THURSDAY

Kenji Kasahara

Mixi is the biggest social networking site (SNS) in Japan with more than 10 million users and a grip on popular culture. Founder Kenji Kasahara started up his first company when he still was a student at Tokyo University and then set up Mixi in 2004. Although it exploded into a company which recently listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, he remains low-key about his staggering success at a young age. Talk Asia follows him at work discussing his impact on Japanese culture and vision for the future of the internet, before taking him back to his roots at the world-famous business school at Tokyo University .

FRIDAY

Ichikawa Ebizo XI

He's a youth icon in Japan seeking to take the ancient art of Kibuki theatre into the modern age. Born into one of the most prestigeous kabuki dynasties, Ichikawa Ebizo began his career at the age of six and became a star with his mixture of athletic ability and enigmatic personal image. Talk Asia gets unprecedented backstage access to Ichikawa as he prepares for a spectacular performance, discussing his life in the media glare and how he felt the pull of destiny in pursuing a career in Kabuki.

Hong Kong's leader Donald Tsang is on the campaign trail in the first contested election for the top job since the handover in 1997. Tsang served as a civil servant under British rule, but is now Beijing's man in Hong Kong, which critics say guarantees him victory in an undemocratic election. Tsang joins Talk Asia to discuss his plans for direct elections, his relations with China's President and Hong Kong's role as an economic hub.