March 11, 2008 -- Like the more senior partners in the International Space Station program, newcomer Japan, which on Tuesday watched as the space shuttle Endeavour launched its first piece of real estate into orbit, has a long list of biomedical, physics and life science experiments to carry out in space.
But its live-aboard crewmembers will also spend time painting, drawing and developing the art of orbital dance. Japan will host tea ceremonies in its new laboratory, named Kibo, and link its people to space by sponsoring traditional poetry, called haiku.
"Japanese culture is based on Buddhism or Shinto," said Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut who blasted off aboard shuttle Endeavour with six U.S. crewmates early Tuesday on a mission to deliver the first part of Kibo, which in Japanese means "hope."
"We appreciate, we respect, harmony with nature. Nature is not the object to conquer -- that is a kind of Western philosophy. For us, nature is to live with," Doi told Discovery News in a preflight interview.
Space in the Balance
Bringing Japanese culture to space requires a shift in perspective, one Doi said he will be thinking about after he returns from his second spaceflight. The astronauts will install a storage chamber filled with computers and experiment racks for the main Kibo lab, which is due to arrive on the next shuttle flight in May.
"Nature means Earth itself -- it didn't include space before," Doi said. "Now we include space and we stay in harmony in space."
The technical demands of operating a space station and the deep economic investment made by the 15 member countries overshadow the cultural ramifications of collaboration, but as the station grows, lifestyle and philosophical orientations will become more tangible.
"I think the legacy [of the space station program] will be having brought together that number of international partners that not only contributed technically but brought up hardware. They flew astronauts that all came together and worked on a joint venture that was staggering in its size and complexity," said Endeavour commander Dominic Gorie.
Japan expects its first astronaut to take up residence on the space station to arrive in October. Next year, NASA plans to double the number of live-aboard crewmembers from three to six.
"Culture and education are ideas that have been brought up," Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, Japan's space station program manager, said in an interview. "Art and dancing may be in the near future...astronauts will paint and (do) traditional writing."
Space Cuisine
One aspect of Japanese culture has already been embraced by the orbital space community -- its food. Japan has developed 28 items to add to astronauts' menu choices, said Vickie Kloeris, who manages the space station's food service for NASA.
By the time astronaut Koichi Wakata arrives at the station in October to serve as Japan's first full-time crewmember, the pantry should include entrees, side dishes, condiments, desserts and beverages developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, Kloeris said.
"Eventually they'll be available to other station crewmembers if they should desire them," she added.
The Endeavour crew seems happy to serve as test subjects. The astronauts' menus include several orders of negima, a Japanese beef and scallions dish, okonomi, tofu with hoisin sauce, hot and sour soup and udon noodles to round out their meatloaf, fajitas, mashed potatoes, sausage patties and shrimp cocktails.
"Food is so psychologically important," Kloeris said. "A lot of crewmembers are trying to seek as much variety as possible."
"We are making a kind of small world up there," added Doi. "We are learning how to live together and how to work together."
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