Ota Masakatsu is a Senior and Editorial writer at Kyodo News, a position he has held since April 2009. 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 Sunday Station of the TV Asahi, one of the most popular news programs in Japan.

Ota is the author of ten Japanese books on nuclear and security issues. He recently published Kaku no Daibunki (Great Divergence of Nuclear. Age).

Ota joined Kyodo in April 1992 as a staff writer. After joining Kyodo, he worked as a correspondent in Hiroshima, Osaka and Takamatsu. In 2001, he became a political correspondent, covering the Prime Minister's office and the Foreign Ministry of Japan. From April 2003 until March 2007, Ota became a Washington correspondent. In Washington, he covered a range of issues related to U.S. politics, security and nuclear policies, as well as U.S.-Japan relations and non-proliferation issues.

Ota was awarded the Vaughn-Uyeda Prize in April 2007 for his investigations into the history of 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 and conducted research at the University of Maryland from 1999 to 2000. 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.