December 4, 2014

Japan successfully launched a rocket carrying the asteroid probe Hayabusa 2 from the Tanegashima Space Center (Kagoshima Pref.) on December 3. This is the fruit of Japan’s space technology development motivated by a sense of non-military purpose.

The Hayabusa 2 project suffered budget cuts and other hardships in its early stages because of the Basic Law for the Development of Space enacted in 2008 by the Liberal Democratic Party, the Komei Party, and the Democratic Party of Japan.

The law paved the way for the military use of space technologies, which had previously been restricted to peaceful uses and the government put priority on security over research in budget allocations.

Currently, the Abe government is working on a new military-oriented basic space plan. The draft plan gives higher priority to projects involving national defense than to purely academic exploration of space. Japan’s space policy stands at an important crossroads between war and peace.

Past related articles
> Peaceful use of space may disappear from JAXA law [July 7, 2011]
> It is unconstitutional to use space for military purposes [November 16, 2008]
> Bill paving way for use of space for military purposes enacted [May 22, 2008]