Japan a leading Space Exploration Nation

My favorite alternate history topic.

- have the Japanese Empire survive somehow. Without restrictions on ICBM development, they might have become a third member in the Space Race. (The downside is that it would be the same Japan that committed various atrocities and war crimes.)

- for modern Japan, have them survive the crash of the asset bubble during the 90s (somehow), then they could at least have their own manned spacecraft. Or if the "lost decade" was inevitable, have them develop a simple capsule that could have survived cancellation instead of a mini Space Shuttle (HOPE/H-II Orbiting Plane), as pointed out in this thread.
 
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They kind of already are; the Japanese have launched various unmanned probes (e.g. the two 1986 missions to Halley's Comet), and are continuing to invest in the area. Indeed, some people have described what is going on in Asia these days as a new Space Race, with China, India and Japan all continuing to develop probes.

In short, give it a decade or so (although obviously butterflying the Japanese economic slump would help).
 
They kind of already are; the Japanese have launched various unmanned probes (e.g. the two 1986 missions to Halley's Comet), and are continuing to invest in the area. Indeed, some people have described what is going on in Asia these days as a new Space Race, with China, India and Japan all continuing to develop probes.

Also, they already own the largest module on the International Space Station (Kibo), as well as the "largest lunar mission since Apollo" (the SELENE orbiter a.k.a. Kaguya). But their planetary probes so far have had bad luck: their Mars probe Nozomi failed to enter orbit in the late 90s/early 2000s, and their Venus probe Akatsuki didn't reach orbit as intended in 2010; fortunately, Akatsuki was able to reach Venus again earlier this month and successfully perform the orbital insertion after orbiting the Sun for five years (it's better than nothing).

(Also, Japan had a manned spacecraft proposal in the early 2000s called Fuji, which included a capsule resembling the mountain it was named after. According to this person's research, it never went past the proposal stage because of a combination of Japan's post-bubble economic contraction and the need for spy satellites over North Korea.)
 
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