To make the aerospace industry Japan's key industry, we must develop human resources. We included the issue of aerospace industrialization in the Vision, because from the perspective of Japan's current economic circumstances, we're worried that otherwise the industry may not exist in the future.

In big countries such as the United States and Russia, aerospace can survive as an independent industry. In Europe, however, it's impossible to sustain the industry within one country, so the ESA (European Space Agency) has been formed, which is backed up by the European Union.

In terms of size, we can't say that Japan is really promising. To keep the aerospace industry alive, we must try to stop the decline. To do so, it's estimated that at least 30 billion yen will be necessary. But realistically, that figure won't be enough to create private-sector competition in the manufacturing of launch vehicles or satellites. The United States is actually the only country in the world that is making a profit from the space industry, and that is because their defense industry is part of it. Meanwhile, Japan ought to establish the industry only for the purposes of peaceful exploitation.

Of all the major countries in the world, Japan is said to be behind in developing aerospace as a national strategy. Aerospace is a promising industry. Why should we miss this chance? We at JAXA believe that the aerospace industry should be enhanced as a national policy.

According to CSTP (Council for Science and Technology Policy), where decisions on national strategies for Japan's science and technology are made, aerospace is categorized under Frontier. However, in my opinion, aerospace is no longer a "frontier" in terms of a theory of industrialization. Rather, it's one of Japan's key technologies; it just hasn't been established as a "business" yet. In order to grow and establish the aerospace industry, facilitation and expansion of space utilization are essential. An industry can operate autonomously only when it has customers who pay money, but it will take some more time for the field of aerospace to reach that stage. Until business needs are defined and users are established, there is no choice other than spending the nation's tax funds. It's JAXA's mission to ask the citizens for their understanding about these circumstances.

Meanwhile, the aviation industry has already been established as a private industry. Japan and France are currently collaborating to develop supersonic aircraft that can cross the Pacific Ocean within five hours at a cruising speed of Mach 2. JAXA has test facilities, so we'll assist them with research as much as we can. At the same time, JAXA is working on technology development for Mach 5 class hypersonic aircraft, which will be difficult for private companies to do by themselves. The current 12-hour flight between Japan and Europe is too long and inconvenient, so we're very excited about this project.