Toyohiro Akiyama, First Japanese Citizen and Journalist in Space, Dies at 84
Akiyama, who flew to Mir in 1990 as the world's first commercially sponsored cosmonaut and first journalist to report from space, died of lower gastrointestinal bleeding.
What happened
Toyohiro Akiyama, 84, died on Wednesday, August 26, from lower gastrointestinal bleeding. As a Tokyo Broadcasting System correspondent, Akiyama was chosen from 162 fellow employees who applied to fly to space for the network's 40th anniversary. He launched aboard Soyuz TM-11 on December 2, 1990, alongside Soviet-era cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Musa Manarov. While the two Soviet crew members stayed for a 175-day expedition, Akiyama spent one week aboard the Mir space station, recording daily 10-minute videos and two 20-minute audio segments broadcast as "To the Universe" on TBS.
Context
Akiyama's 1990 mission marked multiple firsts: the first Japanese citizen in space, the world's first commercially sponsored cosmonaut, and the first journalist to file reports from orbit. His broadcasts were notable for their candid, initially negative accounts—suffering from space sickness and nicotine withdrawal, he described Japanese waters as muddy and remarked unfavorably on how frogs from Japan adapted to weightlessness. As his stay progressed, his reports became more appreciative, documenting views of Mount Fuji and Japanese geography. His mission represented an early example of commercial spaceflight sponsorship and the use of space as a media platform.