TRANSFORMATION OF JAPANESE SPACE POLICY

摘要

For more than three decades, Japanese space policy was conducted without much intervention from political concerns. The objective of Japanese space policy, since its beginning, was to "catch-up" with advanced spacefaring countries. However, this "catching up" strategy is now facing with a lot of difficulties, due to the downturn of economy and progress of Japanese technology. In these circumstances, Japanese space community realized the necessity for changing its national space strategy. In fact, there are variety of actions took place in the last few years for developing new strategy for Japanese space. In 2004, CSTP, the highest authority for decision-making in Science and Technology, issued strategic paper to call for more investment in socially useful applications. In 2005, JAXA issued its "Long-term Vision" with focus on developing technology for social infrastructure. Also in 2005, some Japanese powerful politicians, including former Minister for Science and Technology, issued a report on constructing national space strategy which demanded the government to establish new decision-making structure. These efforts are all focusing the need for Japanese space to shift the focus of policy from technological development to application.