Transforming Japan’s space policy-making

The objective of Japanese space policy, since its beginning, was to “catch-up” with advanced spacefaringcountries. However, this “catching up” strategy is now facing with a lot of difficulties, dueto the downturn of economy and progress of Japanese technology. In these circumstances, Japanesespace community realized the necessity for changing its national space strategy. In 2005,some Japanese powerful politicians issued a report on constructing national space strategy whichdemanded the government to establish new decision-making structure. These efforts are focusingthe need for Japanese space to shift the focus of policy from technological development to application