Toyohiro Akiyama, first Japanese citizen and journalist in space, dies at 84
Toyohiro Akiyama, first Japanese citizen and journalist in space, dies at 84
首位进入太空的日本公民及记者秋山丰宽去世，享年84岁
The first Japanese citizen to launch into space, Toyohiro Akiyama was also the first commercially sponsored cosmonaut and the world’s first journalist to file reports while on a spaceflight. Akiyama, 84, died last Wednesday, August 26, of lower gastrointestinal bleeding, news agencies in Japan reported. A funeral was held with his close relatives in attendance. 作为首位进入太空的日本公民，秋山丰宽（Toyohiro Akiyama）也是世界上第一位由商业赞助的宇航员，以及全球首位在太空飞行期间进行报道的记者。据日本新闻机构报道，84岁的秋山于上周三（8月26日）因下消化道出血去世。其葬礼已由近亲出席举行。
As a correspondent for the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), Akiyama was chosen out of his 162 fellow employees who applied to fly to space in celebration of the network’s 40th anniversary. He trained at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, located outside of Moscow, and was assigned to the Soyuz TM-11 crew. 作为东京广播公司（TBS）的记者，秋山在为庆祝该台成立40周年而举办的太空飞行选拔中，从162名申请的同事中脱颖而出。他在莫斯科郊外星城的加加林宇航员培训中心接受了训练，并被分配到“联盟号TM-11”（Soyuz TM-11）任务组。
On December 2, 1990, Akiyama lifted off with Soviet-era cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Musa Manarov atop a Soyuz U2 rocket that had been adorned with the Japanese flag and ads from various Japanese companies, including Sony. After a nine-minute ascent—which was filmed on board for TBS to broadcast—and a two-day rendezvous, the three crew members arrived at the Mir space station. Afanasyev and Manarov began a 175-day stay as part of the outpost’s 11th expedition. 1990年12月2日，秋山与苏联宇航员维克多·阿法纳西耶夫（Viktor Afanasyev）和穆萨·马纳罗夫（Musa Manarov）搭乘“联盟号U2”火箭升空。火箭机身上印有日本国旗以及包括索尼在内的多家日本企业广告。经过9分钟的上升过程（TBS在舱内进行了拍摄并转播）以及两天的对接飞行，三名机组成员抵达了“和平号”空间站。阿法纳西耶夫和马纳罗夫随后开始了为期175天的第11次远征任务。
“The space antihero”
“太空反英雄”
Akiyama’s time aboard Mir was only a week long. Every day he recorded a 10-minute video and two 20-minute audio spots. These “To the Universe” broadcasts were aired on TBS. Unfortunately, Akiyama initially became very nauseous, suffering from both space adaptation syndrome (also known as “space sickness”) and nicotine withdrawal (he was a chain cigarette smoker) leading to his early accounts of spaceflight being less than enthusiastic. 秋山在“和平号”空间站的停留时间仅为一周。他每天录制一段10分钟的视频和两段20分钟的音频。这些名为《致宇宙》的广播节目在TBS播出。不幸的是，秋山起初感到非常恶心，同时遭受了空间适应综合征（即“太空病”）和尼古丁戒断反应（他是一名老烟民）的折磨，这导致他早期的太空飞行报道显得并不那么热情。
He described the water surrounding Japan as “look[ing] very muddy” and suggested that only the “fat” tree frogs that were sent from his country enjoyed weightlessness. “Thin Japanese frogs act as if they would rather be back in Yokohama,” he said, according to The New York Times, which dubbed him “the space antihero” at the time. 他形容日本周边的海水“看起来非常浑浊”，并打趣说只有从日本带去的“胖”树蛙才享受失重状态。据《纽约时报》报道，他说：“瘦弱的日本青蛙表现得好像宁愿回到横滨一样。”该报当时称他为“太空反英雄”。
Not all of Akiyama’s reports were negative. As time went on, he apologized for his poor attitude and shared footage of Mount Fuji, to his viewers’ delight. He commented on how most of Japan “looks like it has moss all over,” except for the northern island of Hokkaido, which “looks like delicious kelp.” At first, the Japanese public responded by tuning in daily, but as the week went by, interest dwindled. 并非秋山所有的报道都是负面的。随着时间的推移，他为自己消极的态度道歉，并分享了富士山的影像，令观众感到欣喜。他评论说，日本大部分地区“看起来像长满了苔藓”，除了北部的北海道，那里“看起来像美味的海带”。起初，日本公众每天收看他的节目，但随着一周过去，兴趣逐渐减退。
TBS had hoped its investment in Akiyama’s mission—reported to be between $12 million and $37 million (US)—would raise its international profile, but other than a brief bump in viewership, the corporation’s plans did not pan out. Akiyama landed back on Earth on December 10, 1990, touching down on the steppe of Kazakhstan with cosmonauts Gennadi Manakov and Gennady Strekalov on board Soyuz TM-10. Akiyama logged seven days, 21 hours, and 54 minutes on his first and only spaceflight. TBS曾希望对秋山任务的投资（据报道在1200万至3700万美元之间）能提升其国际知名度，但除了收视率短暂上升外，该公司的计划并未如愿。1990年12月10日，秋山与宇航员根纳季·马纳科夫（Gennadi Manakov）和根纳季·斯特列卡洛夫（Gennady Strekalov）搭乘“联盟号TM-10”返回地球，降落在哈萨克斯坦草原。秋山在他唯一的一次太空飞行中记录了7天21小时54分钟的飞行时间。
From Mir to mushrooms
从“和平号”到蘑菇农场
Toyohiro Akiyama was born on July 22, 1942, in Tokyo. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the International Christian University in Mitaka, Tokyo, before joining TBS. From 1967 to 1971, he worked for the BBC World Service and then became a correspondent for the TBS division of foreign news. He was the network’s chief correspondent in Washington, DC, for the four years leading up to his spaceflight. 秋山丰宽于1942年7月22日出生在东京。在加入TBS之前，他获得了东京三鹰市国际基督教大学的学士学位。1967年至1971年，他曾在英国广播公司（BBC）国际频道工作，随后成为TBS外事新闻部的记者。在太空飞行前的四年里，他一直担任该台驻华盛顿特区的首席记者。
Akiyama was the 239th person to orbit Earth and 246th to cross the boundary into space (including suborbital fliers), according to the Registry of Space Travelers by the Association of Space Explorers. The first Japanese career astronaut to reach space and orbit Earth was Mamoru Mohri, who followed Akiyama two years later. (Mohri was expected to be first, but the Challenger tragedy in 1986 delayed his flight on the US space shuttle.) 根据太空探索者协会的《太空旅行者登记册》，秋山是第239位绕地球轨道飞行的人，也是第246位跨越太空边界的人（包括亚轨道飞行者）。第一位进入太空并绕地球轨道飞行的日本职业宇航员是毛利卫（Mamoru Mohri），他在秋山之后两年成行。（毛利卫本应是第一人，但1986年的“挑战者号”悲剧推迟了他的美国航天飞机飞行计划。）
After his return from space, Akiyama became deputy director of TBS’s news division but left the company in 1995 over how commercialized TV was becoming. He joined other journalists to make a film about the state of the Aral Sea and then became a mushroom and organic rice farmer. Akiyama was forced to evacuate his home and give up his farming activities in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. He turned to teaching at the Kyoto University of Art and Design (today, Kyoto University of the Arts), serving as a professor until 2023. 从太空返回后，秋山曾担任TBS新闻部副部长，但因不满电视业日益商业化，于1995年离职。他与其他记者合作拍摄了一部关于咸海现状的纪录片，随后成为了一名蘑菇和有机稻米农夫。2011年东日本大地震后，秋山被迫撤离家园并放弃了农耕生活。他转而投身教育，在京都造型艺术大学（现京都艺术大学）任教，直到2023年。
Akiyama wrote numerous books concerning both his spaceflight and his experiences as a farmer and being displaced from the Fukushima Prefecture. These titles included Space Correspondent: Nine Days / Complete Record of the First Japanese Astronaut’s Experience and This Is Space Correspondent! I Went to Space! in 1991 and The Diary of a Nuclear-Powered Refugee: From the Land of Wrath in 2011. 秋山撰写了多部书籍，记录了他的太空飞行经历、农耕生活以及作为福岛县灾民的流离失所经历。其中包括1991年出版的《太空记者：九天/首位日本宇航员经历全记录》和《这就是太空记者！我去了太空！》，以及2011年出版的《核电难民日记：来自愤怒之土》。
In recognition of his 1990 spaceflight, Akiyama was awarded the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples medal and, later, the Russian medal “For Merit in Space Exploration” in 2011. He was also given the Tokyo Metropolitan Cultural Honor in 1991. Akiyama married Kyoko Akiyama in 1970, and they had two children, Ken and Naoko. The couple divorced in 1995. 为表彰他1990年的太空飞行，秋山被授予苏联“人民友谊勋章”，并于2011年获得俄罗斯“太空探索功绩奖章”。他还在1991年获得了东京都文化荣誉奖。秋山于1970年与秋山京子结婚，育有两名子女：健（Ken）和直子（Naoko）。两人于1995年离婚。