Toyohiro Akiyama, a former journalist and university lecturer who in 1990 became the first Japanese person to travel into space, died on August 26 from lower gastrointestinal bleeding. He was 84. News of his death was announced Tuesday. His funeral was held privately, with his wife, Reiko, serving as the chief mourner.

Toyohiro Akiyama interview with President Reagan during his time as TBS chief correspondent in Washington D.C. (29 April 1985)

How Toyohiro Akiyama Became Japan’s First Person To Travel Into Space 

A TV correspondent for TBS who previously worked for the BBC World Service, Akiyama was chosen to board a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in 1990 as part of a company project. He was a chain smoker with no background in science or engineering, hardly the profile of an obvious candidate to become Japan’s first person in space.

That didn’t bother TBS, though. The Japanese TV station was looking to boost ratings by broadcasting something unconventional. Executives came up with the idea of paying for one of its employees to join the Soyuz TM-11 mission to the Soviet space station Mir. More than 150 people at the company applied.

Akiyama was selected alongside camerawoman Ryoko Kikuchi, who was supposed to be a backup crew member. But a week before launch, she developed appendicitis, leaving Akiyama with no backup. He trained for more than a year, during which time he lost more than 15 kilograms and also gave up his four-pack-a-day cigarette habit.

Before liftoff, Akiyama was asked what he looked forward to most on his return. “I can’t wait to have a smoke,” was his response. During the mission, he provided live reports each day documenting life aboard the station. From space, the first thing he said was, “Is this the real thing?”

He then shared his impression after orbiting the Earth, saying, “It’s really blue.” His daily broadcasts became a pop-culture phenomenon because they lacked the polished tone of traditional space missions, earning him the nickname “the first antihero in space.” His fellow crew members reportedly said they’d “never seen a man vomit so much.”

Back Down to Earth 

After completing his spaceflight, Akiyama returned to TBS and became deputy director of the channel’s News Division. He retired from the company in 1995 as he was disillusioned with how hyper-commercialized television had become. The following year, he moved to the mountains of Takine in Fukushima Prefecture to become an organic farmer.

In 2011, Akiyama was forced to leave the farm due to the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear meltdown. He spent the next few years working as a professor of agriculture at the Kyoto University of the Arts before retiring in 2018 and moving to the mountain town of Odai in Mie Prefecture.

Akiyama’s unlikely journey from television journalist to space traveler and, eventually, organic farmer made him a uniquely unconventional figure in Japan’s space history. He may not have looked like a traditional astronaut, but his irreverent broadcasts and refusal to conform made him one of the most memorable.

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Updated On September 1, 2026