How Japan became the world’s second-largest investor in space ventures

On Dec. 23, Japan’s H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 45 was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture carrying a British communications satellite. Out of its 45 launches to date, the H-IIA, which was developed by JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has succeeded 44 times, giving it a success rate of 98%, one of the highest in the world.

Last year was also the year in which space tourism became a reality. Beginning in July, three American space startups launched spacecraft carrying private customers in quick succession. Then, in December, Yusaku Maezawa, the founder of the Japanese fashion e-commerce site Zozo, made a trip to the International Space Station on the Russian spacecraft Soyuz — and attracted much media attention.

Japan’s recent activities are based on many decades of work by researchers. It all started in 1954, when Hideo Itokawa, the “father of Japanese space development,” brought together researchers in electronics and flight mechanics in the newly formed center for rocket development at the University of Tokyo. Itokawa, who had been involved in airplane development before the war, became interested in spaceflight during his stay in the United States after the war, and was the first person to conduct rocket research in Japan. In 1955, Itokawa’s team, which had only a small budget, began conducting experimental launches of pencil-type rockets with a total length of about 23 centimeters. In 1958, he expanded his focus to atmospheric observation with the larger Kappa 6 rocket, which was launched to the target altitude of 60 kilometers. The period from 1957 to 1958 happened to coincide with International Geophysical Year, an international project that saw scientists from all over the world cooperate on space observation, and Japan was invited to participate for the first time on the basis of the data it had captured with Kappa 6. This marked the moment when Japan joined the ranks of countries conducting space development.

Now, more than a decade since Hayabusa’s return, space development is no longer the exclusive domain of JAXA and heavy industry. Growth of the private space sector, which started in the early 2000s in the United States, accelerated rapidly in the 2010s, including through prominent companies like Elon Musk’s Space X. The Japanese government formulated its New Space Basic Plan in 2015 and set a goal of increasing the domestic space industry to a cumulative value of ¥10 trillion ($90 billion) within a decade. In addition, when the Space Activity Act, concerning the launch and management of satellites, and the Satellite Remote Sensing Act, on the use of satellite data, were passed by the Diet in 2016, a slew of new private companies emerged. As a result, whereas in the mid-2010s Japan had just 10 or so private space venture companies, there are now more than 60, and some say the country ranks second in the world for the total amount invested in space businesses.

“In Japan right now, space ventures with world-class technology are appearing rapidly,” explained Mizuki Komasa, who has long supported investment in space ventures through his venture capital fund, Real Tech Fund, and serves as the representative of Space Foodsphere. “For example, Ispace, which is now working on the private-sector lunar exploration program Hakuto-R, is a pioneer in the field of small moon lander technology among Japanese companies. Meanwhile, Astroscale was the first company in the world to develop technology specializing in the removal of space debris.” The quality of their respective technologies is evidenced in Ispace having raised a cumulative total of about ¥21.8 billion in funding, and Astroscale ¥33.4 billion.