PV Sindhu casually side-stepped the challenges thrown by Hemanth in just 27 minutes to win the opening round by 21-9, 21-9.
Sindhu has already been the recipient of Padma Shri in 2015, and highest sporting honour of India, Khel Ratna award in 2016.
The 26-year-old from Hyderabad squandered a one-game advantage to lose 21-18 16-21 12-21 against the world number 43 Takahashi.
Sindhu, the reigning world champion, defeated Denmark's Line Christophersen, ranked 24th in the world 21-19 21-9 on Thursday.
Tai's fans around the world had waited long for her to gold at the Olympics, having watched her take down some of the best for years but being medal-less in the Games.