For Michiteru Takagi, 76, Sunday will signal the end of a daily ritual he has practiced for 42 years.
On that day, Vatican Radio ceases its Japanese-language service. Takagi has been a technical monitor of the religious station since it began its Japan broadcasts on Feb. 17, 1959.
The Japanese service is the first of a number of Vatican Radio's 34 language programs to be shut down over several years due to financial problems in the papal state. The station plans to relaunch its Japanese service over the Internet.