Toyohiro Akiyama

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Template:Short description Template:Expand Japanese Template:Eastern name order Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox astronaut

Template:Nihongo is a retired Japanese TV journalist and professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. In December 1990, he spent seven days aboard the Mir space station.<ref name="book1">Template:Cite book</ref> He became the first person of Japanese nationality to fly in space,<ref name="astronautix">Template:Cite web</ref> and his space mission was the second spaceflight to be commercially sponsored and funded.<ref name="book1"/> Akiyama was also the first civilian to fly aboard a commercial space flight and the first journalist to report from outer space.<ref name="weathernews">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Soyuz TM-11"/>

Education and career

Akiyama interview with President Reagan as TBS chief correspondent (29 April 1985)

Akiyama attended and earned his bachelor's degree at the International Christian University located in Mitaka, Tokyo. He then joined the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) as a journalist in 1966. He worked for the BBC World Service from 1967–1971 before becoming a correspondent for the TBS Division of Foreign News. From 1984 to 1988, he served as TBS chief correspondent in Washington D.C.<ref name="book1"/><ref name="astronautix"/>

Space training

On 17 August 1989, Akiyama was selected for a commercial Soviet-Japanese flight. The flight was sponsored by the TBS Corporation to celebrate its fortieth anniversary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The amount that the corporation paid for the flight of its employee differs significantly from one source to another (US$28 million,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> US$25 million,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 5 billion yen or US$37 million<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>). Akiyama started training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in October 1989.Template:Fact

Spaceflight

TBS wanted to send the first Japanese person to space in order to boost their TV ratings.<ref name="space-antihero"/> 163 TBS employees applied for the opportunity to fly to space. Eventually, Akiyama and camerawoman Ryoko Kikuchi were selected as the two final candidates. When Kikuchi developed a case of appendicitis a week before launch, Akiyama was selected for cosmonaut training and he was the primary crew member, with no backup in place.<ref name="Soyuz TM-11">Template:Cite webTemplate:Subscription required</ref> Akiyama began cosmonaut training in August 1989 in a deal between TBS and the Soviet Union.<ref name="book1"/> The commercialization of space flight was evident by the Soyuz TM-11 covered with advertising of TBS and other Japanese companies.<ref name="jpn-la-times">Template:Cite web</ref>

Akiyama's mission marked the first flight of a person of Japanese nationality in space as well as the first commercially sponsored and funded spaceflight of an individual in history.<ref name="book1"/><ref name="astronautix"/><ref name="bbc">Template:Cite web</ref> Akiyama also became the first journalist to give live reports from space.<ref name="Soyuz TM-11"/> After successfully completing a Research Cosmonaut training course at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in present-day Russia, Akiyama launched aboard the Soyuz TM-11 mission to the Mir space station on 2 December 1990 along with mission commander Viktor Afanasyev and flight engineer Musa Manarov.

Akiyama was not a trained astronaut, scientist nor engineer.<ref name="space-antihero"/> During his time aboard Mir, Akiyama gave live reports each day documenting life aboard the station, but his apparent discomfort led to him being described as the first "antihero in space".<ref name="space-antihero"/> He described his struggles such as space sickness and craving for cigarettes:<ref name="space-antihero"/> During training, he quit smoking cigarettes, having previously smoked four packs a day. Before liftoff, when asked what he looked forward to most upon his return to Earth, he said "I can't wait to have a smoke".<ref name="jpn-la-times"/> His fellow cosmonauts later reported, in regards to his nausea, that they "hadn't ever seen a man vomit that much."<ref name="neojaponisme">Template:Cite web</ref>

Initially, the TBS TV viewership was high, but by midweek, it declined to slightly above normal.<ref name="space-antihero"/> Various reports have cited a flight cost paid by TBS as between Template:USD and Template:USD. The company reportedly lost Template:USD on the deal.<ref name="Soyuz TM-11"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Akiyama eventually returned to Earth just over a week later aboard Soyuz TM-10 along with Gennadi Manakov and Gennadi Strekalov on 10 December. While onboard the space station, Akiyama made nightly live broadcasts.<ref name="space-antihero"/>

Later career

Akiyama returned to TBS after completing his spaceflight and became deputy director of the TBS News Division. He retired from TBS in 1995, because he disagreed with the active commercialization of television.<ref name="book1"/><ref name="astronautix"/>

In April 1991, he shot a film, with a group of Japanese journalists, about the state of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

From January 1996, he engaged in organic farming with rice and mushrooms in the Abukuma mountains in the town Takine, near Tamura, Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture.<ref name="Лодка мира">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="akiyama-awards" /> He also wrote books and gave lectures focusing on environmental issues.<ref name="akiyama-awards" /> In March 2011, he was personally affected by the Fukushima disaster and was forced to abandon his farm.<ref name="Shinbun">Template:Cite web</ref>

On 1 November 2011, he became a professor of agriculture at the Faculty of Arts, Kyoto University of Art and Design.<ref name="akiyama-awards"/><ref name=IFLS-20170405> Template:Cite web </ref>

Personal life

Akiyama was married to Kyoko Akiyama, and the couple had a son and a daughter.<ref name="space-antihero"/> He left his family in Tokyo to go farm.<ref name=IFLS-20170405/> They divorced in 1995.

Awards and decorations

Akiyama received multiple awards and decorations, including:<ref name="akiyama-awards">Template:Cite web</ref>

Publications

He made reports in Japanese, which were published later, dedicated to his space flight. He also co-authored articles on the development of space tourism and farming.<ref name="amazon-books">Template:Cite web</ref>

  • The Pleasure of Spaceflight, Journal of Space Technology and Science – Vol.9 No.1'93.<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Journey around agriculture – 1 Mar 1998<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Japanese astronaut official photographic record collection (1991) Template:ISBN<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Farmer's Diary (1998) Template:ISBN<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Space – 1 Aug 1992<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Space (above) (Bungei Bunko) – 1 Aug 1995<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Space (below) (Bungei Bunko) – 1 Aug 1995<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • To living with agriculture – earth and space (1999) Template:ISBN<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Space Specialist 9 Days-First Japanese Astronaut Experience All Records – 1 Feb 1991<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • This is a space correspondent! I went to space! – 1 Feb 1991<ref name="amazon-books"/>
  • Hoe and Spacecraft – 30 Nov 2007<ref name="amazon-books"/>

See also

References

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