Masaru Matsuoka, a Fukuoka city employee, has been stationed in Yangon since April 2012, teaching officials of Myanmar's biggest metropolis how to improve their municipal water system.
Soon after his recruitment by the city government in Fukuoka in 2002, Matsuoka, a 34-year-old civil engineering graduate, was tasked with managing the municipal water distribution facilities.
And since his boss frequently referred to him as "energetic and proactive in everything" Matsuoka undertook, the city government nominated him when the Japan International Cooperation Agency asked it to provide a water supply adviser for its mission in Myanmar.