In 1995, Nobuko Hirayama inherited her father's membership at one of Japan's most exclusive country clubs. It took another 23 years and a looming Olympics before she could play golf there on Sundays, however.
Today, Hirayama is one of just a dozen women among the 1,200 full members at the Kasumigaseki Country Club just outside Tokyo, the venue for men and women's golf at this year's Games.
The 92-year-old club, where then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe played with former U.S. President Donald Trump on its rolling fairways in 2017, is long a province of the elite.