Senior and Editorial Writer, Kyodo News
Masakatsu Ota is a Senior and Editorial writer at Kyodo News. He reports on a variety of nuclear issues, non-proliferation and the U.S.-Japan security relationship. Ota is also Visiting Professor of Waseda University and Nagasaki University as well as a regular commentator for major TV news programs.
Ota is the author of eleven Japanese books on nuclear and security issues. He joined Kyodo in 1992. After joining Kyodo, he worked as a correspondent in Hiroshima, Osaka, Takamatsu, Tokyo and Washington.
Ota was awarded the Vaughn-Uyeda Prize in April 2007 for his investigations into the history of the U.S.-Japan security relationship, the history of the Second World War and his series of scoops on U.S. nuclear policy. He was also awarded the Peace Cooperative Journalist Fund Prize in December 2009 for his investigative reports into the secret U.S.-Japan nuclear deal during the Cold War.
Ota received a B.A. in political science from Waseda University. He was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship in 1999. He received a Doctorate from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo in 2010 for his research on U.S.-Japan nuclear policy.
