Masao Hoshino is a corporate affiliate visiting fellow at Shorenstein APARC for 2006-07. Prior to joining Shorenstein APARC, he has worked for the Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper company, as a journalist for twelve years. For the past six years, Hoshino has belonged to the economic news department and has been mainly responsible for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Bank of Japan, and the Financial Services Agency. Hoshino has covered many economic issues, such as the highway public corporation privatization, the government investment, monetary policy, and banking systems.

He graduated from Waseda University with a major in journalism.