Dr. Masahiro Yabuta is a Visiting Professor and has a background in Economics and Public Policy Studies. He received his BSc degree from Kitakyushu University and MSc degree from the Kyushu University, and his PhD from Chuo University. He was a Research Scholar at the London School of Economics, University of London. He is a Professor of Public Policy and Environmental Economics of Faculty of Economics, Chuo University. His main research area is ecotourism development and the regional management of tourism resources from the environmental economics perspectives. Particular focuses are put on the CPRs (common pool resources) approach and its research methodology. He had extensive empirical research in such areas as tourism planning at Hangzhou in China, ecotourism development plan and its possibility in Mongolia and the world heritages and their economic and environmental outcomes in Japan. Dr. Masahiro Yabuta has been involved in a number of Councils on environmental management in Tokyo Metropolitan area.

Dr. Masahiro Yabuta has served as a Vice president of Japan Association of Applied Economics. He is a co-editor for the journal of Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society. He is the Editorial Member of Planning Administration and the referee for Tourism Management and Journal of Regional Studies.