Hiroshi Mizohata, 50, is the Commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency. A native of Kyoto and a graduate of the University of Tokyo, Mizohata entered the ranks of the prestigious kanryō, the career bureaucrats who control Japan's top-tier government offices. He worked in various ministries in Tokyo and later in Kyushu before creating the Oita Trinita soccer team in Oita Prefecture from scratch in 1994. Being a die-hard sports fan, his dream was to coach the team to become champions and to bring the World Cup to Oita. Incredibly, he accomplished both those missions: Oita Trinita became the 2002 J-League Division 2 champions and Oita City was a co-host to the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. Mizohata's unstoppable determination then led the team to victory in the 2008 J-League Cup. The coach and dealmaker extraordinaire was also the driving force behind the establishment of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in 2000. The international private university in Beppu, Kyushu, is representative of Mizohata's vision for all of Japan: Approximately half of its students and faculty are from overseas. Mizohata has always been steadfast in his belief that Japan should play a more international role in business and culture. Since his appointment as Tourism Commissioner in January 2010, he has been shaping Japan into a top travel destination. If anyone can do it, even in these trying times, it's him.

No dream is impossible if you work 10 times harder than anyone else. My father invited me to Italy to see the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals there. Twelve cities hosted the matches and once I was in the stadium in Rome, I thought: "This is it! I'll do this in Japan!"

Focus on the positive. The media keeps repeating that tourism in Japan is down by 90 percent compared with numbers before the March 11 tragedy. Let's focus on the fact that tourism has improved by 70 percent in the last two weeks. That's news worth spreading.