Departures of note

Toyohiro Akiyama was a Japanese television journalist who became the first person of Japanese nationality to fly in space. Born in Tokyo, he graduated from International Christian University and joined Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in 1966, later working for the BBC World Service and serving as TBS chief correspondent in Washington D.C. from 1984 to 1988.

In December 1990, Akiyama flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz TM-11 to the Mir space station as part of a commercially sponsored TBS project, becoming the first journalist to report live from space and the first civilian on a commercial spaceflight. His famous first words from orbit, "Is this for real?" (これ本番ですか), and his daily broadcasts made him a household name in Japan.

After retiring from TBS in 1995, Akiyama took up organic farming in Fukushima, later becoming a professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, he was displaced from his farm and published a memoir about his experience as a nuclear refugee. He died on 26 August 2026 at age 84.