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Golf: Sony Open in Hawaii

Japan's Kensei Hirata lines up a putt on the 16th hole during the second round of the Sony Open golf tournament at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 10, 2025.

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Golf: Sony Open in Hawaii

Japan's Kensei Hirata plays a shot during the second round of the Sony Open golf tournament at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Jan. 10, 2025.

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Golf: World Wide Technology C'ship

Japan's Kensei Hirata sinks a birdie putt on the third hole during the first round of the World Wide Technology Championship golf tournament at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Nov. 2, 2023.

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Lawyer Takimoto

TOKYO, Japan - Lawyer Taro Takimoto answers reporters' questions after meeting Makoto Hirata, a former leading member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, at a police station in Tokyo on Jan. 3, 2012. Hirata has been detained at the police station since turning himself in to police late on Dec. 31, 2011, after being on the run for more than 16 years.

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Lawyer meets ex-AUM cult member Hirata

TOKYO, Japan - Lawyer Taro Takimoto speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Jan. 2, 2012, after meeting with Makoto Hirata, a former leading member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult who turned himself in to police on Dec. 31. Takimoto said Hirata, 46, who had been on the wanted list since May 1995, thinks that AUM founder Shoko Asahara ''deserves the death penalty'' and that he does not believe in the cult anymore.

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Ex-AUM cult member Hirata taken to public prosecutors

TOKYO, Japan - A vehicle carrying Makoto Hirata, a former leading member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, leaves Osaki Police Station in Tokyo on Jan. 2, 2012, as police officers take him for further questioning by public prosecutors. Hirata turned himself in to police on Dec. 31 after being on the run for more than 16 years. He was immediately arrested for suspected involvement in a conspiracy with AUM founder Shoko Asahara and other followers to abduct Kiyoshi Kariya, chief clerk at a notary office in Tokyo, in February 1995.

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Yankees' Matsui donates 50 mil. yen for tsunami victims

KANAZAWA, Japan - New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui (L) hands a check worth 50 million yen to Fumio Hirata, mayor of his hometown Neagari, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 6. Matsui donated the money to the Japanese Red Cross Society to help victims of the tsunami disaster in southern Asia.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - Photo shows two buses, each believed to be carrying a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult, entering the Tokyo District Court on Feb. 3, 2014. The court in a rare move summoned a death row inmate, Yoshihiro Inoue, as a witness in the trial of Makoto Hirata, following the questioning of another death row inmate in January.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - A police vehicle leads two buses, each believed to be carrying a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult, as the convoy heads to the Tokyo District Court on Feb. 3, 2014. The court in a rare move summoned a death row inmate, Yoshihiro Inoue, as a witness in the trial of Makoto Hirata, following the questioning of another death row inmate in January.

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Japan, Venezuela in WBSC Premier 12 baseball tournament

TAIPEI, Nov. 15 Kyodo - Japan's Ryosuke Hirata hits an RBI single to left off Venezuela's Feddy Garcia in the second inning of a Group B game against Venezuela at the WBSC Premier 12 baseball tournament in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on Nov. 15, 2015.

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Distilling shochu spirit in Hawaii

HAWAII, United States - Ken Hirata's third batch of "Namihana" shochu, made in the spring of 2014 and released in September that year, is 82 percent Big Island and North Shore sweet potatoes and 18 percent black koji. Photo was taken in Hawaii on Nov. 3, 2014.

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Cult-slain victim's son speaks after high court hearing

TOKYO, Japan - Minoru Kariya, son of Tokyo notary Kiyoshi Kariya who was abducted and killed by the AUM Shinrikyo cult in 1995, meets the press in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2014, after the first appeal court hearing on former senior AUM member Makoto Hirata's alleged involvement in this and other criminal cases. The Tokyo High Court is set to hand down a ruling on March 4, 2015.

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Aftermath of mudslides in Hiroshima

HIROSHIMA, Japan - Junko Hirata, 69, stands in what used to be her house, in the city of Hiroshima on Aug. 26, 2014. The area was hit by massive mudslides following torrential rain on Aug. 20.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter shows two buses, each believed to be carrying a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult, with a police vehicle leading the convoy, leaving the Tokyo Detention House for the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 21, 2014. Heavy security was provided to transport Tomomasa Nakagawa, a death-row inmate, and Makoto Hirata, who turned himself in to police after nearly 17 years on the run. Nakagawa attended the trial of Hirata, charged with involvement in the abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary public, as a witness.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - Minoru Kariya, the son of one of the victims killed by members of AUM Shinrikyo, enters the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 21, 2014, to attend the trial of Makoto Hirata, a former senior member of the doomsday cult. Hirata is charged with involvement in the abduction and confinement of Kiyoshi Kariya, then 68, in February 1995 in conspiracy with AUM founder Shoko Asahara. Kariya later died after being injected with an anesthetic drug by AUM members.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - Two buses, each believed to be carrying a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult, enter the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 21, 2014. Heavy security was provided to transport Tomomasa Nakagawa, a death-row inmate, and Makoto Hirata, who turned himself in to police after nearly 17 years on the run, with riot police on standby along the streets and traffic lights changed to green to ensure a smooth procession during the convoy's nearly hour-long journey from the Tokyo Detention House. Nakagawa attended the trial of Hirata, charged with involvement in the abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary public, as a witness.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - Two buses, each believed to be carrying a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult, enter the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 21, 2014. Heavy security was provided to transport Tomomasa Nakagawa, a death-row inmate, and Makoto Hirata, who turned himself in to police after nearly 17 years on the run, with riot police on standby along the streets and traffic lights changed to green to ensure a smooth procession during the convoy's nearly hour-long journey from the Tokyo Detention House. Nakagawa attended the trial of Hirata, charged with involvement in the abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary public, as a witness.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - A police vehicle leads two buses, each believed to be carrying a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo doomsday cult, as the convoy heads for the Tokyo District Court on Jan. 21, 2014. Heavy security was provided to transport Tomomasa Nakagawa, a death-row inmate, and Makoto Hirata, who turned himself in to police after nearly 17 years on the run, with riot police on standby along the streets and traffic lights changed to green to ensure a smooth procession during the convoy's nearly hour-long journey from the Tokyo Detention House. Nakagawa attended the trial of Hirata, charged with involvement in the abduction and confinement of a Tokyo notary public, as a witness.

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AUM trial

TOKYO, Japan - A vehicle believed to be carrying Makoto Hirata, a former senior member of the AUM Shinrikyo cult, enters the Tokyo District Court as his trial in an abduction case began on Jan. 16, 2014.

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Robot actress

MOSCOW, Russia - A scene is shown to Russian journalists at a theater in Moscow on Oct. 3, 2013, where a robot (L) will play the role of the youngest sister in Russian author Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. The android called Jeminoid F was jointly developed by the play's Japanese director Oriza Hirata and Japanese robot scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro.

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Robot actress

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian journalists attend a press conference at a theater in Moscow on Oct. 3, 2013, where a robot (R) will play the role of the youngest sister in Russian author Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters. The android called Jeminoid F was jointly developed by the play's Japanese director Oriza Hirata and Japanese robot scientist Hiroshi Ishiguro.

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Woman makes her dream of becoming pilot come true

TOKYO, Japan - Photo taken May 17, 2013 in Tokyo shows Yu Hirata, the first female co-pilot for Miyazaki-based Skynet Asia Airways Co. Hirata passed the pilot test before graduating from university and joined Skynet Asia in April 2012, becoming a co-pilot in February 2013.

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Suu Kyi visits Japanese parliament

TOKYO, Japan - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi holds talks with Kenji Hirata, president of the House of Councillors, at the Diet building in Tokyo on April 16, 2013.

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Suu Kyi visits Japanese parliament

TOKYO, Japan - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (R) shakes hands with Kenji Hirata, president of the House of Councillors, at the Diet building in Tokyo on April 16, 2013.

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Japan pavilion wins top award at Venice architecture exhibition

TOKYO, Japan - (From L) architect Toyoo Ito, photographer Naoya Hatakeyama, and architects Kumiko Inui, Akihisa Hirata and Sosuke Fujimoto, are pictured with the Golden Lion trophy at the award ceremony for the 13th Venice Biennale International Architecture Exhibition in Venice on Aug. 29, 2012, where the Japan pavilion won top prize. Ito, commissioner of the pavilion, exhibited along with other architects the process of designing "Home for All" places where survivors of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan gather to eat, drink and talk. Hatakeyama displayed photos of disaster-hit areas.

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Ex-AUM cult member given prison term

TOKYO, Japan - Lawyer Taro Takimoto (R) holds a press conference in Tokyo on March 27, 2012, after the Tokyo District Court earlier in the day sentenced former AUM Shinrikyo cult follower Akemi Saito to 14 months in prison for harboring former senior AUM member Makoto Hirata, who had been on the run for nearly 17 years. Takimoto, who defended Saito in the trial, said the ruling was ''unjust.''

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AKB48 members visit U.S. elementary school

WASHINGTON, United States - (From R to L) Aki Takajo, Sae Miyazawa and Rina Hirata, members of Japanese all-girl pop group AKB48, visit Thompson Elementary School in Washington on March 26, 2012, to introduce Japanese culture and convey the Japanese people's gratitude for U.S. support following the March 11 disaster last year.

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DPJ's Hirata to become upper house president

TOKYO, Japan - Kenji Hirata, secretary general of the governing Democratic Party of Japan's upper house caucus, speaks with reporters in the Diet building in Tokyo on Nov. 11, 2011. DPJ lawmakers said the same day that the House of Councillors is expected to elect Hirata as its president Nov. 14, succeeding Takeo Nishioka who died Nov. 5.

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Joint relief efforts deepened bilateral ties

NAHA, Japan - Hidetoshi Hirata (R), Japanese Self Defense Forces liaison and coordination officer in Okinawa, and Lt. Gen. Kenneth Glueck, commander of Marine Corps Bases Japan, attend a press conference at a U.S. Consulate General in Okinawa Prefecture on April 15, 2011. They said joint search and relief efforts by the SDF and the U.S. military in areas struck by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami helped deepen bilateral relations.

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Ice sculpture of Spinosaurus appears at Makuhari Messe

CHIBA, Japan - Visitors watch Koichi Hirata, a world champion of ice sculpture, putting the finishing touches to a 2.2 meter-high ice sculpture of theropod dinosaur Spinosaurus at ''Dinosaur Expo 2009 - The Miracle of Deserts'' at the Makuhari Messe International Convention Complex in Chiba on Aug. 28.

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JAL in talks with rival NCA to merge air cargo business

TOKYO, Japan - Japan Airlines Corp. executive Kunio Hirata (L) and Hitoshi Oshika, corporate officer of Nippon Yusen K.K., attend a news conference in Tokyo on Aug. 21. JAL said it is negotiating with Nippon Cargo Airlines Co., a Nippon Yusen arm, to merge cargo operations next spring to turn JAL's cargo business around.

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Vice MOF chief Hirata to quit over shady stock trading

TOKYO, Japan - Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata announces his intention to resign during a press conference at the Finance Ministry on March 26. He made the announcement following the revelation of his shady stock sales earlier this month.

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Vice MOF chief Hirata to quit over shady stock trading

TOKYO, Japan - Prime Minister Taro Aso (R) and Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata (L) attend a session of the fiscal and finance committee of the House of Councilors on March 26. Hirata announced his intention to resign later in the day following the revelation of his shady stock sales earlier this month, and Aso accepted his offer.

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Finance ministry's Hirata sold stocks despite ban on trading

TOKYO, Japan - Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata is surrounded by reporters after a House of Councillors Budget Committee session on March 26. A document showed that Hirata sold a massive number of shares of a plasterboard maker in off-market trading in early March despite a ban on stock trading under the ethics code for politically appointed ministers.

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MOF cuts economic assessments for all 11 regions

TOKYO, Japan - Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata (second from right) delivers a speech at a meeting of the heads of regional financial bureaus held at the Finance Ministry on Oct. 29. The ministry downgraded its economic assessments for all of Japan's 11 regions for the July-September period from the previous quarter, the first across-the-board evaluation cut in 10 years.

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Japan shoots down mock ballistic missile in interceptor test

TOKYO, Japan - Major Gen. Hidetoshi Hirata (L), director of the Air Defense Command of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force, and Brig. Roger Mathews, commander of the U.S. 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, appear at a joint news conference at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Sept. 17, after the ASDF successfully shot down a mock ballistic missile. This is Japan's first test of a U.S.-developed land-to-air missile interception system deployed late last year, according to ASDF officials.

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Opposition introduces censure motion against Fukuda

TOKYO, Japan - Kenji Hirata (3rd from L) of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, hands to House of Councillors President Satsuki Eda (R) a nonbinding censure motion against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in the Diet on June 11. The DPJ and two smaller opposition parties have criticized Fukuda's handling of elderly healthcare insurance and other domestic problems.

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Japan to publish Saddam Hussein's novel on May 19

TOKYO, Japan - Itsuko Hirata, translator of a novel by former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, holds up a Japanese copy of the book, ''Akuma no Dance (Devil's Dance).'' Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co. said May 12 the novel has been published nowhere else. It will hit bookstores May 19.

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(4)Pieces of possibly oldest colored wall painting found at Horyuji

KASHIHARA, Japan - Masahiko Hirata, of the Ikaruga Board of Education, Nara Prefecture, speaks of charred pieces of what may be the oldest colored wall painting in Japan that have been excavated from the remains of what is believed to be the original monastery of Horyuji Temple in the prefecture. ''It is a valuable discovery that will have great impact on fields such as art history and architectural history,'' he said.

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Kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane featured in national history museum

CHIBA, Japan - A special exhibition to explore the renowned ''kokugaku'' (national learning) scholar Hirata Atsutane has opened at the National Museum of Japanese History, featuring hundreds of materials previously not shown to the public. Photo shows a painting depicting the world of Tengu, or the long-nosed Japanese mountain goblins, based on Atsutane's recollection of the story of a boy who said he had seen the world of Tengu.

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METI official Hirata named executive of Japan soccer body

TOKYO, Japan - File photo shows Takeo Hirata, a senior bureaucrat at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, who has been appointed an executive of the Japan Football Association.

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Kyowa Hakko to sell liquor operations to Asahi Breweries

TOKYO, Japan - Koichi Ikeda (L), president of Asahi Breweries Ltd., and Tadashi Hirata, president of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., a fermented-chemical manufacturer, speak at a press conference in Tokyo on Feb. 18. They said Kyowa will sell its alcoholic beverage operations to Asahi for 20 billion yen.

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Kokugaku scholar Hirata Atsutane featured in national history mu

CHIBA, Japan - A special exhibition to explore the renowned ''kokugaku'' (national learning) scholar Hirata Atsutane has opened at the National Museum of Japanese History, featuring hundreds of materials previously not shown to the public. Photo shows a painting depicting the world of Tengu, or the long-nosed Japanese mountain goblins, based on Atsutane's recollection of the story of a boy who said he had seen the world of Tengu. (Kyodo)

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(4)Pieces of possibly oldest colored wall painting found at Hory

KASHIHARA, Japan - Masahiko Hirata, of the Ikaruga Board of Education, Nara Prefecture, speaks of charred pieces of what may be the oldest colored wall painting in Japan that have been excavated from the remains of what is believed to be the original monastery of Horyuji Temple in the prefecture. ''It is a valuable discovery that will have great impact on fields such as art history and architectural history,'' he said. (Kyodo)

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Yankees' Matsui donates 50 mil. yen for tsunami victims

KANAZAWA, Japan - New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui (L) hands a check worth 50 million yen to Fumio Hirata, mayor of his hometown Neagari, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 6. Matsui donated the money to the Japanese Red Cross Society to help victims of the tsunami disaster in southern Asia. (Kyodo)

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Opposition introduces censure motion against Fukuda

TOKYO, Japan - Kenji Hirata (3rd from L) of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, hands to House of Councillors President Satsuki Eda (R) a nonbinding censure motion against Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in the Diet on June 11. The DPJ and two smaller opposition parties have criticized Fukuda's handling of elderly healthcare insurance and other domestic problems. (Kyodo)

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Japan shoots down mock ballistic missile in interceptor test

TOKYO, Japan - Major Gen. Hidetoshi Hirata (L), director of the Air Defense Command of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force, and Brig. Roger Mathews, commander of the U.S. 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, appear at a joint news conference at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Sept. 17, after the ASDF successfully shot down a mock ballistic missile. This is Japan's first test of a U.S.-developed land-to-air missile interception system deployed late last year, according to ASDF officials. (Kyodo)

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MOF cuts economic assessments for all 11 regions

TOKYO, Japan - Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata (second from right) delivers a speech at a meeting of the heads of regional financial bureaus held at the Finance Ministry on Oct. 29. The ministry downgraded its economic assessments for all of Japan's 11 regions for the July-September period from the previous quarter, the first across-the-board evaluation cut in 10 years. (Kyodo)

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Finance ministry's Hirata sold stocks despite ban on trading

TOKYO, Japan - Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata is surrounded by reporters after a House of Councillors Budget Committee session on March 26. A document showed that Hirata sold a massive number of shares of a plasterboard maker in off-market trading in early March despite a ban on stock trading under the ethics code for politically appointed ministers. (Kyodo)

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Vice MOF chief Hirata to quit over shady stock trading

TOKYO, Japan - Senior Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hirata announces his intention to resign during a press conference at the Finance Ministry on March 26. He made the announcement following the revelation of his shady stock sales earlier this month. (Kyodo)