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RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be arriving in North Carolina Thursday, ahead of a busy day of travel across the state.

"It's been 70 years since we've had a Prime Minister or someone of that stature at NC State," said David Robinson, who serves as Honorary Consul for Japan in North and South Carolina.

Kishida will be taking part in two events at NC State, meeting with students studying at Nagoya University's campus at the school, as well as students of all ages at the North Carolina Japan Center.

"We just initiated the order of the Dogwood Academic recognition for learners of Japanese, and that's a statewide recognition that we are piloting at NC State and UNC Charlotte this year. I thought for sure it'd be amazing if we could present that award in front of the Prime Minister," said Stephen Sumner, Director of the North Carolina Japan Center.

NC State senior Camden Wilder is one of the recipients of the recognition.

"I'm very excited for this opportunity to see the Prime Minister visit North Carolina and also to be able to speak with him," Wilder said.

Wilder, a Mebane native who is double-majoring in Business IT and Japanese, is President of the Japan Culture Club at NC State. He studied abroad in Japan and works with Japanese students who are studying at NC State.

"Speaking in Japanese can help them warm up to accepting North Carolina more easily so they can feel more comfortable speaking with American students who don't have any Japanese ability at all," explained Wilder.

Chapel Hill High School junior Kyle Agano was born in Florida and is Japanese on his mother's side.

"It is a really special moment for me just because I'm half Japanese, I'm half American," he said. "All my life I've just felt like there was no intersection. I've gone to Japanese schools and done all these cultural things, I just didn't feel like it was being recognized almost."

He said he moved to Japan until first grade and then moved to Chapel Hill at the beginning of middle school.

"Finally this important person--literally the head of government of my home country in my homeland--which sounds really weird, it's really special for me," Agano said. "It shows that North Carolina is not just a state that has UNC and Duke, not just a university state but two rivals of basketball but it's more special than that."

The North Carolina Japan Center was founded in 1980 under Gov. Jim Hunt, with a focus on strengthening relationships and attracting economic opportunities.

"The main thing that we're doing right now is helping solidify the academic pipeline of Japanese-speaking students, students who are familiar with Japanese culture to support the more than 220 Japanese companies here in North Carolina," said Sumner.

In a statement, Lisa Bamford, President of the North Carolina World Trade Association Triangle Chapter, wrote in part:

"The strong academic appeal as well as a flourishing entrepreneurial spirit in North Carolina has drawn many Japanese students to come and pursue not only their education but their first major career ventures and start-ups here. This area is a mature and fertile ground for Japanese business owners, professionals, and students, and it is primed for encouraging young business growth and empowering more seasoned businesses to expand their impact. We now see many people from Japan traveling here frequently and also many who come and stay for the long haul, to work and raise families, because there are so many features about this area that appeal to both business and lifestyle enhancement."

Wilder said he believes these skills could potentially serve him after he graduates.

"I do know that within a professional capacity later on, I would love to pursue working within a Japanese company, working within government. I'm open. I'm currently very open right now to whatever possibilities come my way," said Wilder.

During the past decade, the EDPNC reports that half of foreign direct investment in the state has come from Japanese companies, with the Center playing a role in easing cultural transition for expats moving to the area.

"What is their experience going to be like? How do we help on that end? So, you know, kind of the landing services part of things, how do we connect them with the community, give them things to do, enriching opportunities so that they can interact with our local communities as well," said Sumner.

More than 30,000 North Carolinians work for Japanese companies, with business leaders expecting this visit could lead to further opportunities.

"We want to make sure that Japan and the world knows, as we all say, North Carolina's open for business, but especially Japan being such a great partner being the number one foreign direct investor in the state, we want everybody to walk away going, 'okay, now I get it. I see what all the buzz is about.' It's a fantastic state with fantastic resources and a real willingness to collaborate and be friends with Japan," said Sumner.

Kishida will also visit the Toyota electric battery manufacturing site in Randolph County and HondaJet facility in Guilford County before heading to an official luncheon at the Governor's Mansion in Raleigh.

For decades, Sammy’s Tap & Grill, a sports bar for fans of North Carolina State University, had a glaring problem: The school’s basketball teams did not win all that much. David Harris, one of the owners, would concoct creative specials in hopes of drawing customers on game days, but it didn’t matter. Few ever came.

“All of that has changed now,” Mr. Harris, 59, said the other day, his smile, like those of his patrons, seemingly permanent. “Can you believe it?”

The N.C. State women’s and men’s basketball teams are both in the Final Four. It is a sentence few in Raleigh believed they ever would utter. And to listen to them say it aloud this week was to hear the exhausted, sometimes tearful glee of an overjoyed fan base still in shock.

Their neighbors, after all, are basketball royalty. Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, each about 25 miles away, have won multiple national championships, and the North Carolina women’s team won it all in 1994. The two programs have one of the fiercest rivalries in college basketball.

Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest men’s player of all time, played for U.N.C. Duke can lay claim to Mike Krzyzewski, who won more games than any men’s coach in N.C.A.A. history.

Then there is N.C. State.

Students at Duke, which is in Durham, and U.N.C. have long labeled N.C. State their “little brother” — an uncompetitive, weaker sibling in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Sometimes, the trash talk feels like it extends beyond sports. Duke is a premier private university, and U.N.C. is the state’s public flagship, its oldest educational jewel and itself a top school. N.C. State is known for its robust agricultural and engineering curriculums, but it does not have the national allure of the other two.

Yet in the men’s tournament, the No. 1-seeded U.N.C., lost to Alabama in the Sweet 16. And Duke, a No. 4 seed, fell last weekend to none other than N.C. State.

“Now they can’t talk,” Tyler Sherman, a freshman at N.C. State, said of both teams as he decided between a gray and a red Final Four T-shirt at the university’s store on Tuesday.

Still, it has been an arduous journey for the Wolfpack. In the 1950s, the N.C. State men’s team was considered the best in the A.C.C., and for the next three decades, the rivalry between N.C. State and U.N.C. was the biggest in North Carolina, said Tim Peeler, who wrote a book on the team that won N.C. State’s last national title, in 1983.

A big setback occurred in 1989, when the N.C.A.A. placed the school’s basketball team on probation for two years and barred it from the 1990 tournament for violations that included the misuse of complimentary tickets and sneakers provided to the players.

Around that time, ESPN was taking off, and the U.N.C.-Duke rivalry was growing in intensity in the state partly because of their high-profile coaches, Mr. Peeler said.

The women’s team at N.C. State has been strong in recent years, but it had not made it this far since 1998. As for the men’s team, fans will admit they have had more than a few subpar seasons. They were, at best, mediocre during this year’s regular season, finishing 17-14. On campus, there were whispers that the head coach, Kevin Keatts, would be fired.

To even qualify for the N.C.A.A. Tournament, the men’s team had to win the A.C.C. Tournament, a feat that involved five straight wins for a team that had lost its last four regular-season games. It has kept winning ever since, beating Duke on Sunday and leaving fans thunderstruck.

“Crazy,” said Norman Downer, an N.C. State alumnus who graduated in 2014.

“Surreal,” said Trey Austin, 21, a sophomore, one of the hundreds of students proudly sporting a red A.C.C. championship shirt on campus this week.

“I’ve waited all my life,” said Bradley Turner, 26, of Raleigh, who spent more than $400 in recent days on Wolfpack merchandise.

This was a jubilance they had never experienced. It felt electric and fleeting, they said, like catching fireflies in a jar. The Wolfpack had arrived at their moment, wearing shirts and holding signs that underscored the surprise of their ascent: “I believe.” “Why not us?”

On Tuesday, hundreds gathered on campus to send off the women’s team. Tubas and trumpets roared. Some in the crowd had dyed locks of their hair red. As the players walked to their bus, fans chanted the names of their heroes.

“I love you Saniya!” one woman screamed, referring to guard Saniya Rivers.

They had heard from friends who went to Duke or U.N.C. about the long lines at games, the camping out for tickets, the prime time TV broadcasts. They had heard from alumni about the ’70s and ’80s, how N.C. State had been the team to beat then, and how it had started the tradition of cutting down the net as a souvenir of victory.

On the “basketball history” wall at Amedeo’s Italian Restaurant, where the celebrated former N.C. State men’s coach Jim Valvano used to dine regularly, every image and artifact dates at least to the 1980s. Championship sweaters from ’83 now go for around $75 at vintage markets.

Dereck Whittenburg, a guard for the team that won the 1983 title, said in an interview that he had seen it all in college basketball. But this current run, he said, felt “truly incredible.”

(One sports statistician put the men’s team’s chances of winning nine straight elimination games to make the Final Four at 10,314 to 1.)

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Whittenburg, 63, said.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, who graduated from U.N.C. and vividly remembers Mr. Whittenburg’s plays from decades ago, said in an interview that he was pulling for both Wolfpack teams. The women’s team, a No. 3 seed, will face South Carolina on Friday; the men will face Purdue on Saturday.

“It’s really hard to find anyone in North Carolina right now, regardless of who your team is, who is not for North Carolina State,” Mr. Cooper said.

Even Duke fans on campus this week, still smarting from their defeat on Sunday, admitted that they were rooting for the underdogs.

“It’s kind of cool that they’re having their comeback,” Tom Gigrich, a junior at Duke, said of N.C. State. “Obviously the loss sucks. But at least U.N.C. didn’t beat us. And honestly, I hope the best for them.”

A No. 11 seed in the men’s tournament, N.C. State is now the country’s Cinderella team, led by DJ Burns Jr., a 6-foot-9 center who has won Raleigh’s heart with his balletic moves and cheerful demeanor.

On Tuesday evening in Raleigh, roughly 1,000 people lined up outside an Applebee’s for a meet-and-greet with Burns and guard DJ Horne, N.C. State’s leading scorer.

Outside the restaurant, boys and girls scrawled “Wolfpack!” in red chalk on the sidewalk and stared into the restaurant’s windows, trying to catch a glimpse. People carried basketballs to be signed. Lily Mulhall, a freshman at N.C. State, said she brought a hubcap to get autographed because — well, it was a long story, but she considered it lucky.

Only a small number of fans managed to get inside and meet the players. Few appeared to care.

What mattered was that they were here, smiling at the ridiculousness of the crowd size as the sun set.

Word spread that the players would be exiting soon through the restaurant’s back door. Some fans had already gathered around it. One had climbed a tree for a better look. They raised their phones, preparing to snap and record so that they could one day remember.

A boy asked his father if they could stay a little longer and get a peek of the players. The father said it was fine.

Raleigh had already waited 40 years for scenes like this. What was 10 more minutes?

Get ready for a side-splitting weekend in Raleigh.

Actor and comedian David Koechner, known for his roles on TV (The Office) and movies (Anchorman), is headlining at Goodnights Comedy Club Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Koechner will be performing traditional stand-up shows, in addition to one special trivia event dedicated to his "Office" character, Todd Packer.

"It's three rounds of trivia, but I also interact with Todd Packer. I do a bunch of Packerisms," Koechner said.

However, it's not just trivia; Koechner promises behind-the-scenes stories and personal anecdotes from his time on the show.

"Fans of the show will really enjoy this," Koecher said. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

Koechner is on the road with fellow comedian, Rob Mayer.

"We've toured together for over seven years," Koecher said. "His style is very different than mine, but we complement each other."

Mayer has a 30-minute solo set and the two team up for an eight-minute segment.

While in town, Koechner is also recording an episode of his new podcast, Get Me The Mayor. It features Koechner interviewing the Mayor and other interesting people in different towns. The goal of the podcast is to learn about what makes each town unique.

"Instead of the usual celebrity interviews, I'm taking a unique approach. I want to chat with the people who truly represent the heart and soul of this city, like the Mayor and other locals," Koechner said.

Koechner encourages people who want to be comedians or actors to read the book, "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell and to listen to the audiobook, "On Writing" by Stephen King.

"Number one, read Malcolm Gladwell's 'Outliers.' It tells the story of hundreds of successful people and how they achieved their success," Koecher said. "Number two, buy Stephen King's audiobook 'On Writing.' He narrates his own book, and it is delicious."

Koechner says beyond that, really, the only other thing you can do is make a decision and follow for your dreams.

"You don't worry because worry has no upside. Worry can only be a negative," Koecher said. " So forget what people will say or think and just do it."

Born in 1962 in Missouri, Koechner honed his improv skills in Chicago before landing a coveted spot on "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-90s.

While SNL provided a national platform, its roles, like Todd Packer in "The Office" and Champ Kind in the "Anchorman" films, that cemented Koechner's comedic stardom. He's also done voice acting on shows like "American Dad" and "F is for Family."

Koechner's filmography spans over 120 films and TV shows. He's appeared in comedies like "Waiting" and "Talladega Nights," dramas like "Cheap Thrills," and even family films like "The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants."

Koechner is performing live at Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh.

The very latest on NC State's roster and transfer portal scoop this offseason

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The transfer portal is a wild place for those who haven't noticed. One day you're on top of the world with three potential visitors, the next you're back to one visitor that the staff can put the full focus on before he decides whether to keep taking visits or not.

On the latest episode of "As the Portal Turns," NC State was set to host Chaunce Jenkins before he opted to look elsewhere this coming weekend -- but the Pack isn't out of the running. For those that have been keeping up on the boards, this is not a surprise given the high-scoring guard expected to visit this weekend, but another portal target has already changed course, too.

With the portal prospects changing their minds and travel plans each and every day, let's not waste any time in getting the latest intel straight to you. Read the full scoop below ahead of a critical week ahead for the Wolfpack in the portal.

To read this full article and more, subscribe now —

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Wolfpack places No. 7 in latest Director's Cup rankings

NC State's massively successful winter propeled it to No. 7 in the latest LEARFIELD Director's Cup rankings released Thursday morning.

Bryan Pyrtle12 hrs

RALEIGH, N.C. -- NC State's massively successful winter in multiple sports propelled it to No. 7 in the latest LEARFIELD Director's Cup rankings released Thursday morning. This ranking marks the Pack's the second-highest ranking ever for the winter and its third consecutive inside the Top 10.

Four Wolfpack winter programs -- men's basketball, women's basketball, men's swimming and women's swimming -- each ranked in the top 10. Both basketball programs drove up the red and white's rank with a pair of Final Four runs and the Pack's first men's basketball ACC Championship since 1987.

Swimming and diving's major success also fueled the high placement. Men's swimming won its third consecutive ACC title and placed fifth at nationals. The women's squad earned another pair of top 10 postseason finishes, placing third at ACCs and ninth at nationals.

Wrestling followed closely behind, finishing 11th after notching its sixth consecutive ACC Championship. Women's indoor track and field rounded out the Pack's representatives by placing 51st.

The 2023-24 season sees NC State continuing its Director's Cup success with a multitude of elite programs. The Wolfpack finished in the top 25 in each of the last three years and notched its first two top 20 rankings in the last two. With this latest update, the Pack looks well on its way to continue its upward trend toward unprecedented success.

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Social media sensation and comedian Shannon Fiedler is set to perform this weekend at Goodnights Comedy Club in Raleigh.

Tickets are $22 for the 7 p.m. ET Sunday event.

“My show is very performative,” Fiedler said. “So, there’s physical comedy and there’s voices and there’s a lot of high energy and storytelling, and I think you can tell that there’s an acting background.”

Fiedler has amassed a huge following on Instagram (222,000 followers) and TikTok (229,300 followers) performing several characters as part of her "city girl series." It includes over-the-top impressions of women from different regions from the preppy Connecticut girl to the brash Bostonian to the naive Minnesotan.

“My show is a very traditional stand-up comedy show,” Fiedler said. “I do stand-up comedy. That’s where I got my start.

“But if you like what you see on my Instagram, you’re going to find a lot of that flavor throughout the performance.”

Shannon Fiedler’s journey to stand-up comedy

Originally from Connecticut, Fiedler was a child actress and studied theater at Middlebury College in Vermont.

“I moved to New York the day after I graduated college and was like, ‘I’m going to be an actress,’” Fiedler said. “And, that was really challenging.”

Fiedler said she was constantly waiting for other people while auditioning for various roles.

“I didn’t have any other plans,” she said.

Fiedler worked various part-time and writing roles. It included writing for magazines, blogs and as a copywriter at an advertising agency.

Fiedler said she missed performing, so she took a stand-up class. It helped her gain the comedic chops to start to book performances. Shortly after, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted several businesses to close in March 2020.

“The pandemic hit right as I was starting to feel like a real stand-up,” Fiedler said. “I was getting into clubs. I was getting opportunities.

“And, I was supposed to have my first Saturday gig at a real club [in March 2020], and so, obviously, that didn’t happen.”

The pandemic closures prompted Fiedler to go to her parents’ house in Rhode Island. She figured she could focus on writing and relax. The comedy club closures

“I really missed making people laugh and I missed having an outlet to perform,” she said.

It prompted Fiedler to create her TikTok account.

“No one I knew had a TikTok,” Fiedler said. “So, I was like, no one is going to think it’s weird if I do this.”

One of Fiedler’s first videos she uploaded to the platform went viral, leading to the creation of her character “Connecticut girl.”

“Instead of just talking about [being from Connecticut], what if I created a character and I called her ‘Connecticut girl’?” Fiedler said. “And what if I put her on a date?”

Fiedler said she had 1 million views overnight.

“I was like, ‘this is crazy,’” Fiedler said.

Fiedler also decided to create other characters for her growing social media following.

“I love it because it allows me to reach people in Raleigh or anywhere that wouldn’t get to see me in a club in New York City on a Saturday night,” Fiedler said. “And, it’s just helped me reach this larger audience, which has made it easier for me to do stand-up because more people want to come.”

Fiedler explained how doing stand-up comedy and creating content for her social media fans complement one another.

“To me, they’re such different art forms, that, I love doing them both,” she said. “And so, I’m really grateful that it was able to take off for me, and that’s it’s still growing and I still find it really fun.”

Fiedler said she had to adjust once comedy clubs began to reopen. She had been accustomed to doing comedy sets between 10 to 15 minutes.

“[It was] terrifying,” Fiedler said. “Before that, nobody knew who I was. I got on stage, and there were no expectations, and it went well and it was fun.”

Fiedler said she initially started to do some smaller shows. After gaining a huge social media following, she recalled the first time she posted to her social media pages about a live performance.

“It was like, a bar show, and 100 people bought tickets,” Fiedler said. “They had to move the show to a different location that had more seats because I started promoting it.

“And I was like, ‘what if they don’t like me?’”

Fiedler said she learned to appeal to people already familiar with her material on social media.

“It’s the best,” Fiedler said. “When an audience comes in, and they’re already aligned with your humor, you’re going to have such a more fun show because they know what they’re coming in for and they’re excited about it.”

Shannon Fiedler’s tour and upcoming comedy special

Fiedler taped her comedy special in January. Details are are expected soon about its release.

“It was just amazing to be surrounded by so many audience members and they were so supportive, and they knew that they were coming to my filming,” Fiedler said. “It just felt so legit and cool … that was definitely the coolest, most rewarding moment.”

Fiedler is still sorting out her goals, dreams and aspirations in the comedy world.

“Right now, I’m still in the phase where I’m saying, ‘yes,’ to a lot of things,” Fiedler said.

Before coming Raleigh, Fiedler’s tour has stops in Buffalo and New York City.

Fiedler’s tour also has stops in:

“Nothing beats touring and being on stage though for me,” Fiedler said. “So, I hope to continue doing stand-up, and making specials, and going around the country.”