Full Name: Harimoto Miwa
Original Name: Zhang Meihe
Date of Birth: 16 June 2008, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Ancestral home: Sichuan Province, China
Height: 166 cm
Profile: Key player of Japan National Women’s Table Tennis Team, registered for Kinoshita Group Table Tennis Club. Her parents are former professional table tennis athletes from Sichuan, China. Her elder brother is Harimoto Tomokazu. The whole family naturalised as Japanese citizens in 2014.
Playing Style (ITTF Official Definition): Right-handed shakehand grip, two-wing topspin attacker, close-table loop-and-fast attack.
Career Timeline
- She first started table tennis at age 2 and trained under her parents from early childhood.
- 2014 (aged 6): Naturalised as Japanese citizen and adopted the name Harimoto Miwa.
- 2021 (aged 13): Quadruple gold medalist in U15 category at World Junior Table Tennis Championships in Portugal (Girls’ Singles, Girls’ Doubles, Girls’ Team, Mixed Doubles), bursting onto the global junior scene.
- 2022: Girls’ Junior Singles champion at All-Japan Table Tennis Championships.
- 2023: Selected into Japan senior national team; multiple medals at World Junior Table Tennis Championships and many titles across WTT Youth events.
- 2024: Women’s Team Silver at Paris 2024 Olympic Games; Women’s Singles runner-up at WTT Frankfurt Champions; Women’s Singles runner-up at WTT Ljubljana Star Contender.
- 2025: Quarterfinalist in Women’s Singles & semi-finalist in Women’s Doubles (with Miyuu Kihara) at Doha WTTC; Mixed Doubles champion at WTT Doha Star Contender; Mixed Doubles runner-up at Singapore Smash.
- 2026: Women’s Team Silver at London WTTC; Women’s Singles champion at WTT Chongqing Champions. She became the first four-title winner in the history of All-Japan Table Tennis Championships (Senior Women’s Singles, Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles + Junior Women’s Singles). Career-high ITTF women’s singles world ranking: No.3.
Premier Event Honours (Three ITTF Major Events)
Olympic Games
- Paris 2024: Women’s Team Silver
ITTF World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC)
- 2025 Doha: Women’s Singles Quarterfinal, Women’s Doubles Semi-final (Miyuu Kihara)
- 2026 London: Women’s Team Silver
ITTF World Cup
- 2023 Chengdu Mixed Team World Cup: Silver
Other Key Achievements
Multiple singles and doubles titles & runner-up finishes at WTT Smash, WTT Champions, Star Contender and Contender series. Career-high ITTF women’s singles world ranking No.3.
She claimed the Women’s Singles title at the WTT Macao Champions on 13 September 2026. With victories at the Chongqing, Yokohama and Macao Champions tournaments, she secured three consecutive titles. As of ITTF World Ranking Week 38, September 2026, she was ranked world No.3.
She is the first player ever to claim four titles within a single All-Japan Table Tennis Championships, widely recognised as the new-generation core of Japanese women’s table tennis.
ITTF Standard Technical Characteristics
Right-handed shakehand close-table two-wing topspin attacker. She generates extremely quick opening strokes on both wings, with a style similar to her elder brother Harimoto Tomokazu. Her backhand carries explosive power, and her backhand flick on return of serve is highly threatening.
She serves with varied spin and length placement, featuring aggressive 3rd-ball play and fluid multi-shot close-table combinations with stable continuous offensive loops.
Relative limitations: Her critical-point consistency under extreme tournament pressure is still developing. Her far-table rallying capability is inferior to the world’s top elite players.
