Qilu Evening News Qilu one-point reporter Wang Xiaoying compiled
Remember the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa who had to pay for a trip around the moon? Before the moon went, he himself went to space, boarded the International Space Station, and did a live broadcast there.
Next target: Mariana Trench
On the evening of the 12th, Maezawa Yusaku broadcast his daily life on the International Space Station on a Japanese television program, and he greeted the audience happily in front of the camera: "Good evening to everyone on the earth." At the moment, I am talking to everyone in a gravity-free state. I hope to return safely on the 20th and enjoy the rest of the journey. ”
During the live broadcast, Maezawa replied to some questions raised by netizens, such as "what to eat in the space station", he said, "There are more canned foods, the best food is the famous Japanese yakitori, bring it here to eat a different flavor." The host asked, "Now that you're in space, where will your next destination be?" Maezawa said he wanted to go to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world: "It is said to be the deepest trench in the world, and I want to see it." Now that you have come to space, the next time you want to dive into the deep sea, the upper and lower ends of the earth want to see. ”
Maezawa has been aboard the International Space Station for several days. On the 8th, he and his assistant and producer Yozo Hirano and Russian astronaut Misulkin embarked on a trip to the International Space Station, they took off on the Russian "Soyuz" spacecraft, Misulkin was responsible for the operation of the spacecraft, and Hirano Yozo filmed records for Maezawa for 12 days. About 6 hours later, the spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station.
Before setting off, Maezawa and Hirano had been training for months, practicing how to act in zero gravity and how to operate in the event of an emergency. Maezawa said the hardest training he found was a high-speed swivel chair, "literally torture."
Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano
In addition to doing live broadcasts, Maezawa also continued to update videos in space, and in a recently uploaded video, he showed where he slept and filmed the look of the earth from the International Space Station, he said: "As you can see, the earth is round, and it is really blue, very beautiful." He also responded to critics: "Some people say that you are so easy to go to space because you have money, but I think [chance] is the same for everyone." 」 There are a lot of people who criticize me, but I wasn't born with so much money, and I used to think that even if I lived 1 million years, I wouldn't go to space. But I have worked hard step by step to achieve my dream, so don't give up on your efforts. ”
Maezawa also advertised Uber on the International Space Station, and the Daily Mail reported that he ordered a "space takeaway" and that Uber's "Uber Delivery" delivered Several Japanese dishes packaged in special cans for Maezawa and the astronauts, including miso mackerel soup, beef with sweet sauce, chicken stew with bamboo shoots and braised pork. This is the first "space takeaway" in human history, which lasted more than 8 hours and traveled about 400 kilometers. Uber CEO Kos Rosassi joked that Maezawa had only placed a small order, but it was a big task for Uber.
"Musk Japan Decector"
It cannot be denied that Maezawa, who encourages everyone to work hard, is indeed very rich. He did not say how much the trip to space cost, but travelers who were on the International Space Station before him are said to have spent between $20 million and $40 million. For Maezawa, who has a net worth of about $1.9 billion, that's not much. The 46-year-old made his fortune by founding and running a fashion e-commerce company, ZOZOTOWN, and is currently ranked 30th on Japan's richest list.
Maezawa differs from the image of many traditional Japanese businessmen, with some joking that he is a "Musk Japan Scorer" because he has always been interested in space and is therefore often in the headlines. In September 2018, Musk's SpaceX revealed that Maezawa would be the first passenger to participate in the company's lunar travel program in 2023.
Maezawa Yusaku and Musk
Around the moon trip, Maezawa also made a lot of tricks: in January 2020, shortly after breaking up with his girlfriend, he announced that he would recruit a female friend to accompany him on a trip around the moon and shoot a documentary, and it is said that he received 30,000 applications, but this move also caused great controversy, and finally he canceled the friend recruitment plan on the grounds of "feeling complicated".
Later, Maezawa invited 8 artists to participate in the journey around the moon, and the cost was paid by him, "If Picasso saw the moon up close, what kind of painting would he draw?" If John Lennon had circled the moon, what kind of music would he have written? Maezawa hopes that these artists can "create masterpieces that inspire people's dreams" and have a wide range of "as long as they think they are artists", including painters, architects, costume designers, musicians, etc., but they must meet two requirements, one is to be able to enhance their own activities by entering space, and the other is willing and capable of helping other passengers.
Applications naturally flew in like snowflakes again, and in March this year, Maezawa announced that it had received 1 million applications. It's unclear which lucky people will get a total of 8 lunar orbit seats, but if SpaceX's lunar orbit plan is carried out smoothly, Maezawa will be the first to be so close to the moon since the 1972 U.S. "Apollo" moon landing program.
"Like" is important to him
In fact, When Maezawa was young, he was different from many Japanese. Instead of going to college after high school, he went to the United States with his then-girlfriend, where he began collecting CDs and records. After returning to Japan in 1995, he used these things as initial capital and opened his first company, selling imported CDs and albums by mail. In 1998, he founded Start Today with the money he earned from mailing album sales, and in 2004 the company opened ZOZOTOWN, an online retail e-commerce company.
However, after the great success of ZOOTOWN, Maezawa resigned from ZOZOTARN in September 2019, before resigning he had sold 50.1% of his shares for $3.7 billion, and later sold 30% of the shares to Yahoo Japan.
Maezawa spends no less than scrupulously, spends ahead of schedule and is high-profile, and not only likes to spend a lot of money on adventure and exploration, but also likes to buy luxury goods – private jets, yachts, watches, and art. He founded a contemporary art foundation in Tokyo and was named one of the "Top 200 Collectors in the World" by Art News magazine in 2017. It was also that year that he bought the 1982 book Untitled by contemporary artist Jean Mitchell Basquiat. The painting, which to many people looks more like graffiti, cost Maezawa $110.5 million for it, and even his sister said she was "speechless."
Maezawa said he only bought things out of liking and intuition, not out of the guidance of some art consultant. "I buy (artwork) because they look good, that's all. I love the classics and the history and stories behind them, but owning them is not the purpose of my purchase. He said in an interview.
Jean Mitchell Basquiat's Untitled
Maezawa, who was interested in art, played music when he was young. In high school, he formed bands with friends, worked as a drummer, and made records. Later, he worked as a drummer in a band called "Switch Style", which debuted in 2000, but Maezawa gradually felt that writing songs, releasing records, and touring the country gradually became "routine work", in his words, "We are all about to become paid music workers", far less creative than business.
Talking about the secret to ZOZOTOWN's rapid growth and success, he says it's because we and our employees are "doing what we love," "We love clothes, we like colleagues who love clothes as well, and we use doing business as an extension of our hobby." ”