現在、チェコ共和国のプラハに来ています。
いよいよ今日9月23日から25日まで、Space Generation Congress (SGC)が開催されます。
http://www.spacegeneration.org/index.php/activities/space-generation-congress
なお、9月27日から10月1日まで開催されるInternational Astronautical Congress(IAC)では、今年はHASTICのブース展示のお手伝いとして参加することになりました。
http://www.iac2010.cz/
http://www.hastic.jp/
White Label SpaceのパンフレットもHASTIC様のご好意でブースに置かせていただけることになっており、大変感謝しています。
遅くなりましたが、去る今年6月に出席した、国連宇宙平和利用委員会(UN COPUOS)のレポートが、SGACの9月のニュースレターに掲載されましたので、以下に転載します。
http://www.spacegeneration.org/images/stories/Newsletters/SGAC_Newsletter_September.pdf
Japan’s NPoC Reports on His Experience at 2010 UN
COPUOS
National Point of Contact for Japan, Hiroshi Yamashita, attended the 2010 UN COPUOS as an observer and shared with SGAC his experience.
Hiroshi, who has been an NPOC with SGAC for over a year, closely observed the sessions and has reported back his interesting point of view as a member of SGAC’s delegation to COPUOS.
Hiroshi explained that he attended the Berlin Air Show previously to flying to Vienna for the second week of COPUOS from 14 to 18 June. His first impressions from within the plenary were rather pragmatic ones regarding the working languages, stating that, “Most of the six UN working languages belong to those countries who won the Second World War, leaving other important languages like Japanese and German out”.
In his opinion, “simultaneous translators have removed language barrier between attendees. The UN working languages, nowadays, should reflect, especially in COPUOS, the importance of including all nations under the same outer space”.
Commenting on the public present during the meeting, Hiroshi described that he “met many space politicians from many countries and some friends who also work for governmental space organisation. There were not only senior governmental officers but also space young professional and several Japanese professionals from MEXT (the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), MOFA (Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Japan) and JAXA.
Hiroshi also had a keen eye for the participation of his own country.
“Japan presented the recent missions of JAXA in the conference like HAYABUSA (MUSES-C), IBUKI (GO-SAT), AKATSUKI (Planet-C) and IKAROS,” stated Hiroshi. “Many attendants appreciated those advanced missions. Mr. Horikawa, technological executive director at JAXA, was elected next Chairman of COPUOS from 2012, joining Japanese astronaut, Takao Doi, who works at UNOOSA in Vienna since September 2009, as important members of the UN space community and strengthening Japan’s contribution to the UN”.
Hiroshi marked the importance of the process in the conference for the democratic achievement of decisions and that representatives and the Chairman worked very patiently. “Like other democratic processes, it often takes a long times to decide on agenda items. There are frequently contradictory opinions from many country delegates,” said Hiroshi.
Bringing his previous experiences in to analyse his experience at COPUOS, Hiroshi recounted an instance when he appeared on a television debate show on NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai, National TV in Japan). “The topic of the debate was whether Japan should do international contribution through peace keeping operations and enter as
a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Although I'm an engineer and not a politics specialist, I argued that in the delicate military balance of the world, we have to invest in peace not only on Earth but also in outer space”. In this sense, he was encouraged when he observed that “the COPUOS sessions were not dedicated about the military agenda as I previously imaged”.
After attending COPUOS, made up of 69 member States, Hiroshi was inspired to say, “We have to have our opinions for common goals despite of whether we are majority or minority, developed or developing country.
I feel that we have to give not only national opinions, as Japanese in my case, but as a young generation for future in the world”.
Hiroshi highlights the importance of such international fora, as the UN COPUOS in saying that “If positions are different, benefits are also different. Put simply, we need international contribution to find the ways to overcome our current crisis with space technology”.
“I had fantastic experience through COPUOS. I appreciate the hospitality of SGAC Chair and Executive Director, Agnieszka Lukaszczyk and Ariane Cornell, during the week. I met many interesting professionals during the parallel events held almost every day, and I have developed a new political vision of space now,” Hiroshi concluded.
Hiroshi Yamashita, NPoC Japan

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