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研究ノート
The Need for Astrosociological Awareness in Japanese Society
RIVERA RUSCA, Renato(Meiji University)

1. Introduction
Recent space-related news and events such as the meteorite explosion over Russia in
February 2013, Virgin Galactic’s proposed space tourism venture, Mars One’s Marscolonization plan and NASA’s increasing reliance on third-party companies such as
SpaceX for their freight uses to and from the International Space Station, have seen
more and more exposure in recent years, increasing the general public’s awareness inouter space and related phenomena.
In the United States, where there has been a long tradition of equating or relating
progress and success in the space program with national pride since the days of theSpace Race, a sentiment borne out of the bleakness of the Cold War, space enthusiasts
are certainly not rare, and even those less enthused within the general public have aworking knowledge of the basics in terms of space news and trends, as can be seen withthe frequency of such topics featuring heavily in general magazines such as Time andthe high ranking sales of books on so-called “popular science” topic, such as those bycelebrity physicist Michio Kaku. This suggests a communicative network of
information flow wherein individuals move from group to group, sharing andreconstructing the information within each one, and bringing it into a new area forfurther evolution. Evidence for this pattern can be seen within the very pages of Timemagazine itself, which covers news, politics, science, literature and popular culture,with any one of these topics being devoted a cover story at any time.
In contrast, Japanese society is more suited to members of a certain group sticking to
one particular area and allowing that group to develop, resulting in a rich and varied
culture from a positive standpoint, but also suffering from a lack of unity, to look at theissue conversely.
It is easy to say that this phenomenon can be well observed in the behavior of themembers of subculture groups such as the so-called “otaku ” anime fans, and theirseclusion from the rest of society. At the same time, however, it must be stressed that
this is happening all across the board in Japanese society, and the shrinking of themainstream culture is a direct cause of this trend.

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The internet has certainly played a part in making these groups more and more
active within their own boundaries, as it provides users with the tools to research on
information related to what they are interested in, but not the incentives to search forthat which they have no interest in, nor to communicate with those who do not have an
obvious connection to their hobbies.
It is thus no wonder that the Japanese general public has only recently come to beinterested in space phenomena (and that is because of a couple of specific events which
we will look at in detail later), where information is not yet free to flow between
different groups. Where one member of society may have a working knowledge of aphenomenon such as space debris and assume that everyone in society shares thisknowledge, he or she may be surprised to find that that is not the case. This points to abreakdown in the systems for sharing information and evolving overall as a result.
This paper aims to fulfill two goals. Firstly, it will explain the term, “Astrosociology”,
a young field of research which promotes multidisciplinary and collaborative
investigation into outer space phenomena affecting our society in different ways,
providing detailed examples. Secondly, it will attempt to frame this topic ofastrosociology and why awareness of it is needed within Japan, not only as a research
field, but as a concept which could improve the dissonant nature of Japanese society,which has long been criticized for having apathetic youth, exercising poor leadershipskills in terms of business and politics, and suffering from economic stagnation.
It should be noted that the goal here is not to promote the concept of privatecompanies entering the field rapidly becoming recognized as “space business” to inspire
Japan to strive for new business opportunities – such an agenda would carry a heavybias towards exploitation of the space environment and would run counter tothe argument for multidisciplinary discourse which this paper is attempting to push.
Rather, it is to promote awareness of the issues which lead up to that and other similar
schemes of thought, and what clues Japan and Japanese students and researchers canpick up from that.
2. Definition of Astrosociology
The word “Astrosociology” has been around since 2003, when sociologist Dr. Jim Passestablished the field, after which he wrote the inaugural essay, in 2004 ⅰ . Though thedefinition has been adjusted slightly over the years, we can sum up the basic definitionof “Astrosociology” as follows:

Astrosociology : The study of astrosocial phenomena that arise from the two-way

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relationship between the ecosystems of Earth and outer space.
And, additionally:

Astrosocial Phenomena : social, cultural, and behavioral patterns associatedwith stimuli traced to the outer space ecosystem.
The scientific study of “astrosocial phenomena”, then, is what astrosociology entails
overall, which includes all social conditions, social forces, organized activities, objectives
and goals, and social behaviors directly or indirectly related to (1) human spaceflight,
exploration, and settlement or (2) any of the space sciences (e.g., astronomy, cosmology,
astrobiology, astrophysics).
2.1 Examples of Astrosocial phenomena – The rise of private “space business” companies:
Mars OneOne of the reasons for the incorporation of issues related to space activities – humanor natural – into both human sciences research topics and the humanities education
sector, is the recent trend of private companies entering the nascent field of spacebusiness. Many companies are taking advantage of the marketing potential of space
as a “new frontier” which holds a wealth of resources waiting to be tapped, thus
romanticizing the idea of pioneering into a fresh new era, the benefits of which shall be
reaped by humankind alike. In reality, there is a serious lack of understanding among
the general public regarding the usage of space for profit, as well as the plausibility andinherent ethical issues in the implementation of many of these plans – it may be thecase that the companies are attempting to cloud these issues and establish
infrastructure based on a biased (convenient) consensus, before certain issues are fully
explored from all sides.
Let us look at two specific examples of currently developing private enterprises in
the field of space. The first one is the Dutch-led expedition to Mars, called “Mars One”.
The goal of this venture is to establish a human colony on Mars, a process which will
involve several one-way trips to the planet, the first of which is currently due to launch
in 2023. Participants for this mission are to be chosen from applicants responding to
an official call for volunteers – already hundreds of people, many in their 20s and 30s,
have applied through the Mars One official website ⅱ . These people would leave Earthand never return.
The program would be funded by corporate sponsors, but the key attribute is the factthat the entire process of training the astronauts, the launch, the space trip, andRIVERA RUSCA, Renato

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ultimately their arrival and subsequent life on Mars will be televised in the popularformat of a reality TV show.
Putting aside the technicalities and issues of plausibility regarding manned
spaceflight for six to eight months and the construction and operation of the resulting
Mars base, including provisions, which are the focus of the natural sciences researchers,
we come across several issues which demand attention from the human sciences
perspective. To begin with, it is easy to imagine people from the general public asastronauts but with the added pressure of having left civilization forever, it will no
doubt cause unimaginable stress – on a scale we have never seen before.
JAXA, under its Kibo (the Japan-administered Experimental Module section of theInternational Space station) Utilization Forum, welcomes proposals for experimentsfrom the life sciences fields to be undertaken on the International Space Station, but thehuman sciences research seems to be lacking. Referring to data concerning the humaninteraction onboard the ISS pinpointing the causes of stress and tension, could provide
clues for considering the environment of the planned Mars settlement. As thesituation stands, there may be too many unknown variables to accurately predict whatkind of a “society” – if such a term is applicable – the colony might develop into. Will
there be a dominant ethnicity or nationality, depending on the backgrounds andcultural identities of the participants? Can the chain of command be undermined? If
so, who leads? Considering that the settlers will have to be in an enclosed space for the
rest of their lives, effectively, what will their psychological repercussions be after yearsof living in a constrained area with the same people?
Another issue to be considered is that colonies and settlements turn into natural,
evolving societies when their offspring is born and raised, but nobody knows if thehuman body is capable of childbirth in an environment where different gravitational
forces apply. Medicine and biology may provide answers, but from a sociology
perspective, the settlement can no longer follow the principle of a free and developing
society, when it is so dependent on an influx of new members rather than producing
succeeding generations. In May 2013, Bas Lansdorp, CEO of Mars One, declared Mars
to be “no place for children.” ⅲ

In other words, he was outright banning reproduction

on Mars. This leads to further issues, such as his right to exercise authority overprocreation. Not to mention issues governing sovereignty, nationality, cultural identity
and such.
2.2 Examples of Astrosocial phenomena – Space Solar PowerSpace Solar Power, or Space Solar Energy, is the concept of power generation from

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sunlight, that is purer and more efficient than that which can be harvested here on
Earth. That is to say, Earth-based solar power – using solar panels atop rooftops andacross special open-air fields – can seem like a clean and renewable energy source to theaverage person, but in actual fact it has several issues which prevent it from becoming atrue alternative energy source to replace fossil fuels, namely the thickness of theatmosphere filtering out a lot of the sunlight (for a highly simplistic example of how
much this can fluctuate, imagine the amount of energy a cloudy, rainy day can provide,
as opposed to how much power can be generated on a bright, sunny day), and, of course,
the bother of having to deal with night, a long period where no sunlight can be collected.
As the development of infrastructure in space continues, from the space hotel which
Russia is planning to the development of other facilities set to replace the current
ISS, construction of a space solar power generating station is an idea which has
gained considerable traction in recent years. The idea is very simple, yet carries clear
conviction. Since there is no atmosphere to act as a filter in space, and there is no“night” per se, a space solar power generator can provide enormous amounts ofelectricity to Earth, 24 hours a day, and at minimal risk compared to more traditional
methods of procuring energy. ⅳ
The sales spin, however, carries certain political subtexts which are one-sided andperhaps rather alarming.
Firstly, one poster shows a computer image of the space solar power panel satellite
concept floating above Earth, with an all-capitals headline reading, “UNSPILLABLE.”
Instantly, this calls to mind a reassurance that this method of power generation is safer
than mining for crude oil. However, it is our applied connotations being manipulated
that lead us to this conclusion. To begin with, the first thing we, as average citizens
not so well-versed in the technicalities of energy production, are being told about thisentirely new concept is that the accidents and damage caused by errors in the drilling
and transportation of oil are guaranteed not to occur in this case. This points to a pushfactor, rather than a pull factor, because we are learning very little about what theparticular attributes of space solar power are, other than how it differs in terms ofsafety (in one specific element – its “spillability”) from oil.
The paragraph which follows the headline goes on to make further cases for spacesolar power, but the language used is intriguing. It pushes the prospects of space solar
power by promising “...no more energy wars, no more dependence on foreign oil… a new
economy, new jobs, power to the global poor, and a new American future.” Aside fromthe environmental aspects, which, other than the headline, are somewhat muted, aRIVERA RUSCA, Renato118

lot of the beneficial attributes appear to be political and economical in nature. Indeed,from the American perspective, pursuit of oil has resulted in the loss of jobs anddependence on foreign suppliers – the “energy wars” clearly referring to the conflicts with
the Middle East. Thus, from this viewpoint, space soar energy can be seen to be analmost-literal gift from the heavens. However, the benefits of “power to the global poor,
and a new American future” seem to clash somewhat with the subsequent phrase, “…nonation can hoard it”. Here we return to the aforementioned Space Treaty, which
dictates that no nation can “own” any part of space. Yet we are clearly witnessing
space’s exploitation by one country: what does one make of the ad’s promise of “power tothe global poor”, but an attempt for the United States to shift the tables from recipient
to supplier? One nation may not be able to “hoard” this resource technically, but theentire ad appears to be promoting the concept of having the U.S. at the top of the energy
chain, as a provider of this resource, with “poor” nations being relegated to having tofeed off it, thus manifesting the ideal economic situation. If this is the case, it is in the
United States’ interests to perpetuate a monopoly-like system to reap maximum
benefits. However, this is bound to cause conflicts and complications in the future, andwe need not only further analysis of how these situations can develop, but also a firm
establishment of laws concerning space governance and space use. Additionally, thishas to occur promptly, before lobbyists and others with agendas to push specificenterprises can be allowed to influence lawmakers by highlighting certain aspects ofspace use without touching on others.
These examples show that without proper multidisciplinary dialogue being
exchanged from both the technical and social perspectives, space as a subject presents
an all-too-broad area which can easily be over-simplified, and the danger of this is thatit can lead to naïve backing of unilateral profiteering ventures, or even propaganda,
rather than first establishing services and resources beneficial for all mankind, nomatter their background. The Space Treaty and such laws ought to guarantee that noone individual nor group can take advantage of this – indeed, race, creed andnationality ought not be a factor for any activity once in space.
3. The case of Japan
3.1 Akiyama and the TBS deal
Japan is a curious example in terms of its space development efforts, in that it has arather large investment in space research and technology considering its independent
nature – the country is tiny compared to the US and its budget reflects that, yet it has
had a streak of successful missions which neither NASA nor the ESA can boast, to say
nothing of JAXA’s own relatively-short history. As such, Japanese astronauts on the
ISS and Japanese satellites and exploration probes are held in very high regard globally.

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Yet, public awareness of these achievements remains elusive – at least until very recently.
Much like the Mars One example from earlier, Japan had already in 1990
experimented with its own corporate-sponsored, live-broadcast space event. The firstJapanese astronaut was not provided by NASDA, the former JAXA, but rather, Toyohiro
Akiyama, a journalist with the TBS television network. The enterprise came at a
crucial time where a variety of factors came together – right at the end of the Cold War,with Japan right at the brink of the bursting of its economic bubble. Having been asideline spectator to the great Space Race between the US and the USSR, TBS and agroup of Japanese corporate sponsors made a deal with the USSR to use one of its
capsules to send Akiyama into space as the first Japanese astronaut. The result was a
television event very similar to the one the Mars One entrepreneurs are trying to push.
This resonated well with Japanese audiences because it created a form of drama froma real-life scenario – which is what that which we know as “reality television” forms its
basis on. In a sense, the Japanese corporate deal with the USSR to send a civilian inspace, the first of its kind in history (as was the sight of a rocket emblazoned withcorporate logos to represent sponsors such as Sony, Otsuka Seiyaku and Uni-Charm),
was a precursor to the Mars One enterprise, and one which we have the luxury ofhindsight to look back on and analyze. Clearly, little is remembered about this event,in spite of the large investment at the time. Akiyama’s lack of acknowledgment fromJAXA seems to point to an “unofficial” air, of almost having been swept under the rug.
3.2 The case of Japan: Hayabusa
The Hayabusa (MUSES-C) probe is important in Japanese society not because of its
significance as being the first probe of its kind to successfully land on an asteroid,
retrieve a sample and return it to Earth for analysis, but because of its perseverance
and endurance despite all of its trials and bouts of hopelessness during the mission.
Hayabusa did not undergo the mission perfectly according to plan without a hitch;rather, it encountered multiple system errors and losses of power to its main thrusters,
and used alternate methods to re-orientate itself back on track, in the interim having
gotten itself lost and out of communication for a long time.
Hayabusa captured the hearts and minds of the Japanese public precisely because of
its eventual, triumphant return back to Earth after many failures – had it been aproblem-free expedition, the craft would not have raised much interest within thegeneral public. We can attribute this, once again, to a sense of longing for dramatic
situations, and in this particular case, Hayabusa is considered by the general Japanesepublic to be alive and have emotions. Hayabusa has been anthropomorphized into a

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Japanese child trying to realize its goals despite all of the harsh realities it has to facehead-on – as if it ware an avatar of the Japanese psyche. It thus created a relatable
narrative for the Japanese, one the exploitative possibilities of which could not be
underestimated, as one can see in the multiple renditions of the Hayabusa story in film
and animation (some of which go as far as making Hayabusa an actual character, evenwith its own voice).
The personification of Hayabusa into a character not dissimilar to the Yuru-kyara
regional mascots now highly popular around Japan has its roots in the traditions ofstorytelling and richness of “kokuminteki ” (national, but with a nuanced folk-tradition,rather than a patriotic angle), thus is by no means a rare occurrence in Japan that suchan object can capture the hearts and minds of the public at large.
3.3 Space Brothers
Hayabusa served an important purpose as a vessel within which Japanese emotional
quotient was carried and subsequently acted as a gateway into the wider topic of space
exploration and development – almost a full-fledged national space boom – a wave
which many projects have since been riding. One of these is Uchuu Kyoudai (SpaceBrothers) , a manga by Chuya Koyama about two brothers who train to become
astronauts and dream of going to work at a Moon base together. The story has asimplistic plot yet a rather immersive narrative, due to its intricate melding of everyday
life and technical scientific phenomena.
Space Brothers was turned into a television series in April 2012, and has since April
2013 moved from an early Sunday morning slot to Saturday evening prime time –something which for a modern animated show in Japan, where midnight slots arecommon for new titles due to cult audiences, is extremely rare. Thus the popularity ofthe show appears to be increasing and the title seems to be gaining traction among thegeneral public. This is due to the humanistic elements of the series, such as theimportance of teamwork, the realization of one’s childhood dreams, the surprising
results which come from thinking outside the box, and such plot points, all of which are
relatable to the younger generation in today’s Japanese society. The fact that theseries frames all of these factors within a scientific and technological environment
without letting that be the main focus of the story is the key aspect of its resonance with
its audience and as an extent, the reason why it has given opportunities for further
space-related events, such as talk shows and exhibitions.
3.4 Japan and astrosociology
Additionally, the timing of further astrosocial events such as the solar eclipse of

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summer 2012 also brought out the more romantic aspects of space topics within
Japanese society by providing budding photographers, both amateur and professional,
with opportunities for stunning imagery, once again underlining the sheer richness ofJapan’s creative culture. Television shows also reported on the event not so much intechnical, astronomical terms, but rather on how the beautiful corona shape would
remind people of a diamond ring, and how it was a unique opportunity for a perfectmarriage proposal, and other such examples of “humanizing” the extraplanetaryphenomenon.
As a result, through the medium of popular culture, we can see several examples of a“space boom” currently underway in Japan. However, we must be clear to differentiate
it from the American traditional sentiment of such a boom, which carries a noted
nationalistic angle. The Japanese are traditional storytellers, with practices datingback far into history with manga and animation having direct roots in kami-shibai,

kibyoushi and scrolls; their focus on characters even for the usage of regional promotion
gives some clues as to how they communicate with each other, even in topics otherwise
seemingly completely separated from everyday life such as space phenomena,
exploration and development.
Lastly, the particular relevance for Japan of astrosocial phenomena and theirobservation comes in the idea that some parts of Japanese society, in its avid
consumption of science-fiction of the 1950s through to the 1970s, such as Robert A.
Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, gave rise to several home-grown classic works inanimation and the tokusatsu genre through its appropriation and reconstruction ofthese concepts into formats it could take advantage of to their limits – a major
characteristic of Japanese ingenuity. The subculture known as the otaku developed
through sharing information on the rich worlds presented within these literary classics– and this coincided with the 1970 Osaka Expo, the opportunity Japan was waiting forto reveal to the world its technological prowess, kicking its economic growth into high gear.
The inspiration these classic works of sci-fi drew can be summed up as follows,
through the benefit of hindsight: the authors themselves were astrosociologists. That
is to say, they used the format of novels and short stories to merge the human sciences
and the natural sciences by creating a world different from our own, which could easily
be considered fantasy in many ways, but still making it relatable by including humancharacters with familiar logic to us, performing actions which were understandable toour current logic, through which we can see the way this world presented to us works,alien and odd though it may be. This concept is of utmost importance because it allows
us to imagine hypothetical societies and situations within them that give us clues on

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what could happen within our world. Additionally, it also serves to carry a rather
cyclical attribute in that it inspires real-world individuals to try and realize theconcepts presented in the real world. This however, requires much more debate.
For example, Clarke’s groundbreaking novel, The Fountains of Paradise (1979), is astory surrounding the construction of a “space elevator”. The concept of a spaceelevator as a structure which extends from the surface of the Earth into space with acounterweight at the end, using the centrifugal force of the Earth’s rotation to offset its
own weight and stay taught, is one which several academics have postulated andrefined, but this information remained buried within scientific journals until Clarke
incorporated it into his story and added the social factors into the usage of thetechnology – who would build it? How? What would be the reaction to its
construction? In the story, the natives of the land upon which the structure is built
heavily oppose its construction on the grounds that it goes against their traditions,recalling the Biblical Tower of Babel story. These factors helped relate the narrative toeveryday folk and made the seemingly fantastic merely a hypothetical concept, whichlike any other scientific experiment, needed analysis from a variety of viewpoints.
Thus, Clarke helped to popularize the concept and introduce it into the general public’s
mindset.
Obayashi Corporation of Japan has already announced plans to build a space elevatorby 2050, but clearly what is needed is a return to the multidisciplinary analysis of suchconcepts which astrosociology can provide, and popular culture has the ability tochannel, in order to more accurately predict what will be the social, environmental,
political, legal and economic effects of such an undertaking. There are far too manyfactors to consider from just one single discipline.
4. Astrosociology in Education: Meiji University Special Course
Having established this notion concerning the Japanese attitudes towards astrosocial
phenomena, and considering the rapid rise in private companies entering the nascentfield of so-called “space business”, the rather conspicuous lack of information anddiscussion in Japanese on these issues in 2010 was somewhat alarming. The reason
being that it was clear that Japanese attitudes towards space as a topic in general werereserved for the more eccentric, and it was seen as something irrelevant to everyday life
– to the extent that “JAXAi”, JAXA’s small information centre next to the central Tokyo
railway station was closed in summer of that year as part of the government’s budget
screenings (which are famous for then-Minister for Administrative Reforms, Renho’s
strict lecturing about wasteful spending of government funds, spawning the
now-ubiquitous phrase, “is number 2 not good enough?”). Thus, in order for a greater

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awareness of these issues, I began the Introduction to Astrosociology course in Meiji
University as part of the School of Commerce’s Special-Themed Practicum series ofcourses. The relevance of this topic in the field of Commerce was precisely theforthcoming flood of international private companies using the space environment –early in 2010, the weekly Shuukan Diamond had a large feature entitled “2010: A SpaceBusiness Odyssey”. The article was one of very few materials available for referencein the Japannese regarding how space business was unfolding, and even though The
Japan Times newspaper often headlined new space-related developments on its front page,
the Asahi Shimbun and others relegated those news to its science pages, thus muting its
significance on overall society.
At the same time, the course was not designed to be a promotion for space business inany way, rather, it was supposed to be an attempt to stimulate forward-thinking within
the students. This was achieved through the medium of space and space-related topics.
Japanese society is not internationally recognized as being innovative – rather,
Japanese products and systems tend to work within a pre-established framework, buttake advantage of that framework as effectively and economically as possible, thus
resulting in world-leading products and services in terms of cost-performance. This
characteristic manifests itself within the language, within tradition, and many aspectsof Japanese lifestyle involving interaction and communication, from the sempai-kohai
and teacher-pupil relationships to the conduct of manners in a public space. The
weakness in this trait is that it gives little room for pioneering and enterprising.
Naturally, there were few prior examples of successful space business enterprises inJapan (not counting the TBS-USSR deal, but as mentioned earlier, this was longforgotten in the public consciousness by 2010), which meant that it was a clean slate
upon which brainstorming could occur and perhaps flourish into a wealth of potential
ideas – not just for business, but of how to better synchronize social aspects withastrosocial phenomena.
Giving students free-reign to think up their own projects without any previous
examples, without any “sempai” nor a manual to follow, in some cases resulted in
confusion, but in others the assertiveness of the students brought them to research awide variety of topics and develop a multidisciplinary faculty where they can observe
how many aspects of society interact and affect others, and how this process can beextended to outside of our planet.
Ultimately, the students learned how to be mediators in society, navigating throughthe available information instantly accessible to them, and utilizing and applying it,

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rather than following a preset pattern, outdated in today’s fast-paced world ofinnovation. Essentially, the situation of our modern information age is such thatbetween libraries, which hold official data, and the internet, which provides a wealth ofuser-generated content, plus the ease with which this information can be accessedusing mobile phones and tablets, the level of intelligence in an average person ought
not to be measured by the amount of information he or she “knows”, if knowing
something is to be considered as having the information stored somewhere. Any
person can answer a question as random as “What was the title of the episode of Happy

Days in which Tom Hanks made a guest appearance?” given no more than a couple ofminutes on a smartphone. But it takes a rather different sort of intelligence to applythat information to a separate situation, analyzing the correlations for example,
between guest-star recurrences and rising popularities of both the show and star inquestion. Thus the drive to promote media and technological literacy is intrinsic tofurther development in society because separate sections of society without outside
influences of stimuli result in mere seclusion and run counter to an evolving,
progressive culture.
The students of astrosociology deal with a field which is so new that pre-establishedpatterns are difficult to spot, and thus are better for it. The course is now in its fourthyear, and the Japanese-language materials have increased significantly, mostly due tothe growth in general interest of space due to the factors mentioned earlier such as
Hayabusa. The work is done by making contributions from disparate realms andincorporating ideas from these areas, thus expanding their fields of communication andexposing themselves to a wider field of thought.
5. Developing Astrosociology as a Global Forum for Research and Discourse: Symposium
and beyond
Several institutions and academics in Japan are currently making headway toincorporate space issues into the human sciences, including Kyoto University and Kobe
University with Dr. Hiroki Okada, an expert in anthropology and Dr. Hiroaki Isobe,
from the perspective of the social sciences, and they are working in tandem with JAXA,
collaborating to spread knowledge of space outside the laboratories and into the literary
fields.
In March 2013 I organized a Symposium held at Meiji University entitled“Constructing the Future Society” ⅴ , to the end of establishing a forum where experts ofvarious fields, students and members of the general public from various generations
could exchange opinions and ideas concerning how space affects us now and in the
future, from a multitude of different perspectives. The guest speakers included, among

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others, the aforementioned Hiroki Okada (Kobe University Graduate School ofIntercultural Studies) and Hiroaki Isobe (Kyoto University Center for the Promotion ofInterdisciplinary Education and Research) from the academic perspectives, Norio Saito(Jaxa Kibo Forum), who is involved in projects with the aim of teaching space-related
topics to children and thus establishing more inquisitive attitudes in young people, andworld-renowned science-fiction manga and animation creators, Yoshiyuki Tomino(Animation director/Kyoto Seika University Guest Professor) and Leiji Matsumoto(Manga artist/Young Astronauts Club Japan). Also presenting was Nasa Yoshioka,
then-head of the Space Development Forum, an organization for the promotion ofawareness of space issues in society, and also through video presentations, theAstrosociology Research Institute founder, the aforementioned Dr. Jim Pass and deputy
head Christopher Hearsey.
Undergraduate students of the Constructing the Future Society course were also
given the opportunity to present in the symposium, as well as sit alongside the guest
speakers for the final discussion wrap-up session, where hot debates sprang regarding thecontroversies surrounding military usage of space technology and the responsibility ofits development in the future.
The aim of the symposium was, ultimately, to provide an actual forum for intelligent
discussion, where there would be no preconceptions and no pre-established notions,regarding space business, exploration and development, and its effect on our everyday
lives, past, present and future. The discussion was to be multidisciplinary,international and multigenerational. The cross-section of attendants and the feedback
from the questionnaires retrieved pointed to a wide range of participants, from students
of topics as diverse as law and engineering, to children and the elderly. To have a spacereserved for cross-communication on this scale is a rare opportunity indeed in this day
and age of disparate interests, discussions upon which can be only realisticallyundertaken with individuals of a similar mindset. In contrast, astrosociology has
proven to serve this end well.
Thus, there was no expectation to come up with any answers to some of the difficult
issues that we face in considering the future of space development and its relationshipto society simply in one day – but the goal of realizing the first step towards that end,
the establishment of a multidisciplinary panel of experts and its accessibility to the
public, was certainly met, and in that sense it was a success. It now paves the way forthe real beginning of discourse on these topics.

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6. Conclusion
Japan is a land of rich subcultures, borne from a tradition of storytelling customs andhighly close-knitted interactions within groups. However, overall, once these groups
reach a certain depth, they no longer are able to interact with each other and instead
focus on a self-sustaining path independent of outside factors. It is the groups’
relations with each other which move society forward as a whole, and opening thechannels of communication to bridge these gaps is of utmost importance. Today, theability to do this rests within the young generation. Astrosociology, being a field whichattempts to unite the natural sciences with the human sciences, is one such topic which
has been seen to be an apt catalyst for such a level of communication to take place.
These days, communication ought not be any longer a matter of language, or a means
in itself, but rather a tool through which mutual understanding can develop between
otherwise seemingly unrelated groups. Thus, language and communicative abilities
ought to be tools to further society’s common aims. Here I should point out that theaim is not to achieve a unification of society, bringing about a blanketing of ahomogenous set of values to which all members must adhere, and thus eliminating
peculiarities of different sections of society. Rather, I propose a sharing of ideals basedon a few common aspects, as simple as all of us participants being social animals by
our nature and thus requiring to communicate in order to survive. There is a necessity, inparticular within Japanese society, for “mediators”, those who have the ability to move
between the groups and the sub-groups and be aware of the changes and trends which
are occurring.
This needs to be established as quickly as possible, before the space business boom
bubble really kicks into gear, at which point business entrepreneurship and exploitative
business practices may very well have created a monopoly on not only space usage,
but also on ethical stances towards space usage. This is already beginning to happen
with Paypal Galactic, pushing for the implementation of a space currency. This has
profound effects on our future society, the implications and ramifications of which have
not yet been fully discussed in a public forum.
It is in education where we can look towards raising not only a workforce, but alsoa general public aware of the issues to be able to make reasonable decisions regarding
our ever-increasingly close rapport with space in the future. However, for this, the firststep is making sure that everyone is able and willing to interact.

The Need for Astrosociological Awareness in Japanese Society

References(Endnotes)ⅰPass, Jim 2004: The definition and relevance of astrosociology in the twenty-first

century. (retrieved from: http://www.astrosociology.org/Library/Iessay/iessay_p1.pdf)
ⅱMars One Homepage: “These people have applied to go to Mars”,
http://applicants.mars-one.com/
ⅲ
Space.com : “Private Mars Colony Is No Place for Children (Yet)”
http://www.space.com/21267-private-mars-colony-children.html
ⅳ
Disinfo.com: Space Solar Energy truly beyond petroleum :https://disinfo.com/2010/06/space-solar-energy-truly-beyond-petroleum/ⅴ
Constructing the Future Society: https://constructingfuture.wordpress.com/

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