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JAPAN SPACE
Japan appoints first space development minister: officials

by Staff Writers
 Tokyo (AFP) June 17, 2008
 Japan on Tuesday appointed its first ever minister of space development after the pacifist nation scrapped a decades-old ban on the use of space programmes for defence.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda picked Fumio Kishida, the science policy minister, to take on the additional role, government officials said.

The appointment was in line with last month's passing of a new law allowing the use of outer space for defence, breaking a decades-old taboo amid increasing concern about military threats in the region.

"I feel a serious responsibility as expectations for space development are quite high," Kishida told a news conference.

While Japan has no current plans for a new defence project in space, the new law aims to remove any legal obstacles to building more advanced spy satellites and to help innovation in the country's space industry.

The government plans to introduce various space policies under the leadership of Kishida, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.

Proponents of the legislation argue that it is necessary as Japan has fallen behind other nations in space technology, particularly as China moves to capture space business in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

But critics, including the opposition Japanese Communist Party, had argued that it could lead to a stronger military.

Japan's US-imposed post-World War II constitution says the country will never again wage war. Japanese troops have not fired a shot in anger since 1945, although the country has one of the world's largest defence budgets.

Tokyo has stepped up military research after North Korea stunned the world in 1998 by firing a missile over the Japanese mainland into the Pacific.

Japan has also expanded its space programme and is now conducting the world's most extensive mission to the moon in decades.

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JAPAN SPACE
Japan's Parliament Approves Law On Space Use
 Tokyo, Japan (SPX) May 22, 2008
 Japan's Diet approved a law on general principles for the use of space Wednesday, allowing non-aggressive military use of space Wednesday and overturning a decades-old policy of limiting space development to peaceful uses.






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