1. Toyohiro Akiyama is a retired Japanese TV journalist and professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design.
18 Facts About Toyohiro Akiyama
1. 2.
Toyohiro Akiyama became the first person of Japanese nationality to fly in space, and his space mission was the second spaceflight to be commercially sponsored and funded.
3.
Toyohiro Akiyama attended and earned his bachelor's degree at the International Christian University located in Mitaka, Tokyo.
4.
Toyohiro Akiyama then joined the Tokyo Broadcasting System as a journalist in 1966.
5.
On 17 August 1989, Toyohiro Akiyama was selected for a commercial Soviet-Japanese flight.
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Toyohiro Akiyama started training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in October 1989.
7.
When Kikuchi developed a case of appendicitis a week before launch, Toyohiro Akiyama was selected for cosmonaut training and he was the primary crew member, with no backup in place.
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Yuri Gagarin 8.
Toyohiro Akiyama began cosmonaut training in August 1989 in a deal between TBS and the Soviet Union.
9.
Toyohiro 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.
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Toyohiro Akiyama became the first journalist to give live reports from space.
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Toyohiro Akiyama described his struggles such as space sickness and craving for cigarettes: During training, he quit smoking cigarettes, having previously smoked four packs a day.
12.
Toyohiro Akiyama returned to TBS after completing his spaceflight and became deputy director of the TBS News Division.
13.
Toyohiro Akiyama retired from TBS in 1995, because he disagreed with the active commercialization of television.
14.
Toyohiro Akiyama wrote books and gave lectures focusing on environmental issues.
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Toyohiro Akiyama was married to Kyoko Toyohiro Akiyama, and the couple had a son and a daughter.
16.
Toyohiro Akiyama left his family in Tokyo to go farm.
17.
Toyohiro Akiyama made reports in Japanese, which were published later, dedicated to his space flight.
18.
Toyohiro Akiyama co-authored articles on the development of space tourism and farming.