Hidemasa Hoshino fired a 6-under-par 66 to move atop the leaderboard after the first round of the ANA Open on Thursday.
Hoshino, who is aiming for his second career title, made five birdies and a bogey before making the turn and picked up two more shots, featuring a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 fourth hole at the Sapporo Golf Club, Wattsu Course, in Hokkaido.
Nozomi Kawahara was a further stroke back in a seven-way tie for second with Hirofumi Miyase, Kenichi Kuboya and India's Jeev Milkha Singh also among the pack.