The woman in the article's main picture is Japanese pop singer Hikaru Utada, although it's probably just a little joke. I couldn't find a connection between her and the naming of the Hikaru arcade board.

However, Sega's Chihiro board was apparently named after the Studio Ghibli character, and I suspect that another Sega arcade system, the Lindbergh, was more likely named after the popular Japanese rock band rather than directly after the American aviator. Hikaru Utada had just started to become successful around the time the Hikaru board was released, so it's possible, although Hikaru isn't a particularly uncommon name in Japan.