Yusaku Maezawa: all about the millionaire Japanese businessman who traveled to space on a Russian ship

This December 8, 2021, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the Soyuz MS-20, they were accompanied by the commander of the ship, cosmonaut Alexandr Misurkin. After six hours of flight and after having made four laps in orbit, the Russian spacecraft docked with the Poisk module. Once the floodgates were opened they were greeted by the current tenants of the international orbital platform and astronauts from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

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if you know that both will stay twelve days at the station, whose journey will be recorded and broadcast on the Asian’s YouTube channel. For their stay they carried 162 kilos of cargo including materials for experiments, hygiene products, food rations, among others. This is the first time that two space tourists have traveled in the same spacecraft to the ISS, in addition to being the first tourist space flight to the orbital platform since 2009, when Canadian Guy Laliberté, founder of the Cirque du Soleil, last set foot the station.

Next, we will tell you who this wealthy man is, whose fortune, as of July 2021, was estimated by Forbes magazine at 1.9 billion dollars, and that he has already booked a flight around the Moon aboard Elon Musk’s Starship, which is scheduled for 2023.

TODO SOBRE YUSAKU MAEZAWA

Yusaku Maezawa was born on November 22, 1975 in Kamagaya, Japan. He is a Japanese art collector and billionaire businessman who founded Start Today in 1998, in addition to launching the online fashion retail website Zozotown in 2004, which has become the largest in his native country. It also introduced a custom clothing brand ZOZO and a home measurement system called ZOZOSUIT in 2018.

MUSICAL LIFE

In 1991, when he was still at Waseda Jitsugyo High School, he founded, together with his classmates, an independent band called Switch Style, in which he was the drummer.. They released their first EP in 1993.

After graduating from high school, he decided not to go to college and moved with his girlfriend to the United States, where he began collecting CDs and records. Two years later, in 1995, he decided to return to Japan and his album collection became the basis of his first company, which sold imported albums and CDs by mail order.

YOUR BUSINESS

Start Today

In 1998, Yusaku Maezawa used the base of the mail-order album business to launch the Start Today company and that same year, his band signed with the BMG Japan label. Two years later, he moves his business to an online platform and starts selling clothes.

Zozotown

In 2004 he opened his retail website Zozotown, which in six years became a company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Zozo y Zozosuit

The entrepreneur introduced his clothing brand to media ZOZO and also launched ZOZOSUIT, a home measurement system, which is already found in more than 72 countries and territories. In 2019, Maezawa resigned from ZOZO after selling a 50.1% stake in the company to SoftBank. It also sold 30% of its stake in its other business to Yahoo Japan.

SUPPORT YOUNG ARTISTS

For the purpose of supporting young artists, Yusaku Maezawa is one of the pillars in the Foundation for Contemporary Art based in Tokyo, in 2012, which currently hosts collections exhibitions twice a year. He is also planning to open a contemporary art museum in Chiba.

RECORD AUCTIONS

• May 2016 with a US $ 57.3 million auction for an untitled (1982) artwork of a devil by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
• May 2017 with an auction of US $ 110.5 million for another untitled work (1982) of a skull by the same artist.

LOVER OF SPACE FLIGHTS

ISS MISSION

On December 8, 2021, he joined Space Adventures on a trip to the International Space Station via Soyuz.

CIRCUNLUNAR FLIGHT

On September 17, 2018, it was announced that Yusaku Maezawa would be the first commercial passenger to fly around the Moon aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, which will take place in 2023 and will last six days.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YUSAKU MAEZAWA

• Civil status: Divorced.
• Children: One.
• Where do you live: Chiba, Japan.
• Your Favorite Music Artists: Sepultura, Biohazard, Metallica, X Japan, Pantera, Beastie Boys, Slayer, Deftones, Rage Against the Machine, SOD, Bad Religion, Green Day, No Use For A Name, Pennywise, NOFX, Rancid, Hi-Standard, Lagwagon, The Offspring, Youth of Today, Strife, Boquilla, Cadena de fuerza, Snapcase, Inquebrantable, Gorilla Biscuits, Earth Crisis, Harto de todo, Weezer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, The Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, The Verve, Travis, Foo Fighters, Muse, The Alfee y Bon Jovi.