Hikari Mae Hida writes for Honolulu Civil Beat. Her first journalism job was in 2020 as a reporter-researcher in The New York Times’ Tokyo bureau, where she worked alongside foreign correspondents to report on gender, shifting demographics, and nuclear power from across Japan. She is a graduate of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University and is a 2026 Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow.

Hikari grew up in Tokyo and spent summers in the Isan region of Thailand where her maternal family lives. During her time at Civil Beat, she hopes to reflect and honor the history, culture, and lived experiences of the people of Hawaiʻi through her stories.

You can reach Hikari at hhida@civilbeat.org