Toyohiro Akiyama

Spaceflight TBS wanted to send the first Japanese person to space in order to boost their TV ratings. 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. Akiyama began cosmonaut training in August 1989 in a deal between TBS and the Soviet Union.

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. Akiyama also became the first journalist to give live reports from space.

Initially, the TBS television viewership was high, but by midweek, it declined slightly above normal. 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.

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.

On 1 November 2011, he became a professor of agriculture at the Faculty of Arts, Kyoto University of Art and Design.

Personal life and death Akiyama was married to Kyoko Akiyama, and the couple had a son and a daughter.

Awards and decorations Akiyama received multiple awards and decorations, including:

1990 – Order of Friendship of Peoples (10 December 1990, Soviet Union), "for the successful implementation of space flight on the orbital research complex Mir" 1991 – Tokyo Metropolitan Cultural Honor award 2011 – Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (12 April 2011, Russia), "for a great contribution to the development of international cooperation in the field of manned space exploration"

Publications Akiyama 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.

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