I would like to introduce the footsteps of Ko Hara, a former member of the House of Representatives, who has been referred to as the “politician who cultivated the ocean.” Born in Kagoshima in 1876, Hara laid the foundation for Makurazaki City, Kagoshima Prefecture, to become Japan’s top producer of bonito flakes. He also pioneered development efforts in the South Seas fisheries market, building a large fisheries factory in Ambon, Indonesia, which exported bonito flakes to Japan and canned goods to the West. Here, I would like to communicate to a broad audience Hara’s contributions to international cooperation through the fisheries industry in pre-war times, which included teaching methods for bonito fishing and tuna longline fishing to local residents.