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Global News Podcast · Dec 13, 2025 · 28 min

The Happy Pod: The cafe where mistakes are expected

A pop-up cafe in Tokyo is giving people with dementia a place to volunteer as well as a sense of community. A volunteer there, Toshio Morita, has become something of a local celebrity. At the Orange Day Café, muddled orders, long pauses and gentle confusion aren’t mistakes — they’re the point. Also: A Northern Irish man who suffered a cardiac arrest had his life saved after his golden retriever, named Polly, alerted his wife after he stopped breathing. Polly the dog has been hailed a hero by the charity, the British Heart Foundation. A revolutionary gene therapy has successfully treated patients with aggressive and previously incurable blood cancers. In Kenya, the Rare Gem Talent School has been set up specifically to teach dyslexic children. A condition that is believed to impact around 10% of people globally. A woman in Kerala, India, has started a camp to help women who are going through a divorce. And a French man in London has become the face of a homelessness charity after his virtuoso piano playing at a train station went viral. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.

0:00-28:06

transcript

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show notes

A pop-up cafe in Tokyo is giving people with dementia a place to volunteer as well as a sense of community. A volunteer there, Toshio Morita, has become something of a local celebrity. At the Orange Day Café, muddled orders, long pauses and gentle confusion aren’t mistakes — they’re the point.

Also:

A Northern Irish man who suffered a cardiac arrest had his life saved after his golden retriever, named Polly, alerted his wife after he stopped breathing. Polly the dog has been hailed a hero by the charity, the British Heart Foundation.

A revolutionary gene therapy has successfully treated patients with aggressive and previously incurable blood cancers.

In Kenya, the Rare Gem Talent School has been set up specifically to teach dyslexic children. A condition that is believed to impact around 10% of people globally.

A woman in Kerala, India, has started a camp to help women who are going through a divorce.

And a French man in London has become the face of a homelessness charity after his virtuoso piano playing at a train station went viral.

Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.