Morihiko Hiramatsu

Morihiko Hiramatsu was born in Ōita City, Ōita Prefecture, Japan. A graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, he began his career at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), where he worked on policy development for Japan's emerging electronics industry. He became Vice-Governor of Ōita Prefecture in 1975 and was elected Governor in 1979, serving six consecutive terms until 2003. In 1979, Hiramatsu launched the "One Village, One Product" (OVOP) movement, encouraging rural communities to develop distinctive local products through value-added processing and human resource development to revitalize regional economies. Guided by the principles of "think globally, act locally" and "develop people for the future", the movement helped Ōita Prefecture cultivate over 300 specialty products and was later introduced to more than 30 countries and regions. After his first visit to China in 1983, the OVOP model was promoted in more than ten Chinese provinces and municipalities, including Shanghai and Gansu. He facilitated direct air service between Ōita Prefecture and Shanghai and was awarded honorary professorships at Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanjing Normal University, and Gansu Agricultural University. He promoted agricultural technology exchanges between China and Japan by dispatching experts to China and hosting Chinese trainees in Japan. In 2002, he received the Chinese Government Friendship Award, and in 2009, he was named one of the "60 Most Influential Overseas Experts in New China