this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025
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History

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263
The first Japanese man in space was sent up by the Soviets. He was a chain smoking, heavy drinking journalist sent up as a publicity stunt, and apparently he hated space. (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net to c/history@hexbear.net
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Akiyama was not a trained astronaut, scientist nor engineer. During his time aboard Mir, Akiyama gave live reports each day documenting life aboard the station, but his apparent discomfort led to him being described as the first "antihero in space". He described his struggles such as space sickness and craving for cigarettes:During training, he quit smoking cigarettes, having previously smoked four packs a day. Before liftoff, when asked what he looked forward to most upon his return to Earth, he said "I can't wait to have a smoke". His fellow cosmonauts later reported, in regards to his nausea, that they "hadn't ever seen a man vomit that much."

Why has nobody made an anime about this guy???

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[–] AstroStelar@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The rocket that launched him into space:

Sony-et Union kelly

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

takes a drag from cigarette

"Fuck space."

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

obama-spike see-you-space-cowboy

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 80 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

Four packs a day requires serious dedication. 3.3 cigarettes per hour every hour.

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 59 points 1 day ago

Nah that's actually moderation for a Japanese boomer salaryman

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 35 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This lady I worked with taught herself circular breathing so she could smoke an entire cigarette in one long inhale. The breaks were really short.

She didn't know it was called circular breathing, or that you could use it to sing or play an instrument.. Just figured it out naturally by being a dedicated smoker.

As to Mr. Akiyama's 4 pack per day, do we know for sure how many were in a pack?

[–] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That has to be the most stressed women in existence

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 2 points 15 hours ago

she had her problems but had a naturally sunny disposition and was obviously pretty good at solving problems

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 19 points 1 day ago

Google just said 20 in a pack is standard to Japan, but I'm not sure about cigarettes in the 1980s.

[–] RNAi@hexbear.net 35 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

5 per waking hour, I knew someone like that also alcoholic (RIP)

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 44 points 1 day ago (4 children)

This guy is somehow still alive at 82. My grandfather made it into his 90s drinking back-to-back 50:50 vodka/orange juice mixes for the entire waking day. Someone I know is dying in their early 50s despite being super active and taking every supplement known to man. I don't understand biology.

[–] Lemister@hexbear.net 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Well drinking and smoking only increases the chances of cancer, it doesnt guarantee it, its simple RNG!! My Grandpa died due to muscle atrophy in his 50s, he was a lifelong jogger. Why? Because his daily jogging route took him along a nuclear plant or thats what people said.

[–] RNAi@hexbear.net 39 points 1 day ago

The first rule of biology is error bars

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[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Like seriously. If I smoke half a pack in a day I feel like absolute garbage.

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 30 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I used to smoke half a pack a day and that was bad enough I had to be hospitalized for high blood pressure.

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[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 34 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Dude was smoking 80 cigarettes per day lmaooooo this guy's lungs must have been pure tar

[–] CliffordBigRedDog@hexbear.net 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Still alive at 82

[–] TheLastHero@hexbear.net 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

incredible, those boomer lungs are simply built different. there's gotta be lead shielding in there or something

[–] CliffordBigRedDog@hexbear.net 16 points 1 day ago

All the asbestos filters out the tar

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 27 points 1 day ago (1 children)

All the germs get stuck in the tar pit and die.

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[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 56 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Why has nobody made an anime about this guy???

Or any other type of show, you know how funny this could be. Just imagine tuning in to your weekly twenty minutes of vomiting-japanese-space-journalist with his very laconic Russian crew mates who roast him the entire time. The entire production is in Russian and Japanese, available with subtitles in Russian, Japanese and English, and it's closer to a sitcom than anything else.

Edit: And with a lot of USA roasting, naturally.

[–] ClathrateG@hexbear.net 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Let me honest if it was made by a known studio with a decent budget it would be the americans sending him into space and the soviets would be the bad guys

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 35 points 1 day ago

I've seen way more sympathetic presentations of Russians in anime than in western media.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

With a bunch of flashback to him back on earth chain smoking and drinking. And actually enjoying life not being miserable. Then cut back to him vomiting in zero-g.

I’m guessing a lot of that was withdrawals more than the space itself. 🤷

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[–] EstraDoll@hexbear.net 28 points 1 day ago

I was about to say "Yakuza games side character type of guy" but his name is literally Akiyama michael-laugh

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

damn the comments here are really coming for me where i live; at my worst i smoked 6 packs a day easy

[–] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

As in 120 cigarettes a day?

[–] javiwhite@feddit.uk 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Average human is awake 15-18 hours every day.

Meaning 120 cigarettes per day would equate somewhere between 1 cigarette every 7 1/2 minutes and 1 cigarette every 9 minutes from wake-up to sleep. I'm not sure how feasible that realistically is, as certain activities prevent smoking (IE: eating/having a shower) which would affect the overall count, unless caught up elsewhere via chain-smoking.

I suppose it is technically possible. If you push it to being awake 20 hours in a day, then it's a far more manageable 1 cigarette every 10 minutes from the second you're awake to the second you're asleep, and with only 4 hours sleep every night, you probably won't have to worry too much about the long term health effects either!

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 5 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

chain-smoking

bingo, i was also drinking like 3ish liters of liquor a day at that point. also you can DEFINITELY smoke and eat (and shower for that matter, though i didn't bc smoking inside was not an option where i lived). i promise you this is all perfectly possible, it's just indescribably ill-advised. and wildly expensive.

and like, not that fun, if we're being honest with one another.

[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Depending on local prices, that is a higher cost of booze and cigs than my entire monthly income, lol

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

ouch. just for fun lemme think here. it's been over a decade since i quit both (chomsky-yes-honey) but if i recall marlboro ran a 3 pack special for like...$15 i think? and a handle of liquor was arouuuund uh shit maybe $17 or so per?

not an exaggeration to say nearly 100% of my money went towards partying (i believe i was making under $10 an hour but i worked full time - thankfully doing nothing of import bc yes of course i was drunk at work at almost all times)

god typing this out makes me kind of sick now. anyway thus ends Anecdotes of a Wasted Life, tune in next week to see more needless diary-posting (but hopefully not actually)!

[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

You're not worse off for the passage of time, indigo looks good on you.

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 1 points 11 hours ago

that's sweet of you to say catgirl-heart

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Okay I'm a pretty heavy drinking myself but, how the fuck are you ALIVE???

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 5 points 22 hours ago

lmao, fair question. i suspect the answer lies somewhere between "the lord watches over drunks and fools" and "god loves a good chew toy"

it might make more sense to know

CW: SIi was trying very hard not to be alive at the time

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 3 points 23 hours ago

yup! i was a complete disaster as a teen

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 15 points 1 day ago

there was a period when I was 19 where I smoked a pack a day. even as stupid as I was, I couldn't keep that up for more than a few weeks because every morning I felt completely fucked.

this dude is fucking crazy. 4 packs a day, get the fuck outta here. what an animal.

[–] forcefemjdwon@hexbear.net 20 points 1 day ago

Why has nobody made an anime about this guy???

This is just Fee Carmichael from Planetes. She even has a Russian coworker. There is an entire episode about her risking her life to get a smoke.

[–] BeamBrain@hexbear.net 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

smh yet another victim of communism

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 41 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This guy is still alive. He's in his 80s, smoking 4 packs a day.

[–] BoxedFenders@hexbear.net 34 points 1 day ago

He seems pretty based:

Later career Akiyama returned to TBS after completing his spaceflight and became deputy director of the TBS News Division. He retired from TBS in 1995, because he disagreed with the active commercialization of television.[4][5]

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Four packs a day?!? Jesus Christ.

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 33 points 1 day ago

Rod Serling smoked about this much and he died at 50 after three heart attacks. This guy is still alive at 82. Wtf.

[–] Xenomorph@hexbear.net 36 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No doubt fellow gundam heads will agree this was the life of the average spacenoid in the universal century. The colonies in gundam were full of working class people while the rich elite lived on earth.

[–] Frivolous_Beatnik@hexbear.net 30 points 1 day ago

Tfw your soul isn't weighed down by gravity but your sense of equilibrium definitely still is

[–] anindefinitearticle@hexbear.net 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I get the feeling that going to space, especially back in the 70s, is only enjoyable if you're the kind of person who likes challenging yourself and putting yourself through difficult situations for fun.

Gotta live life on hard mode.

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[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 33 points 1 day ago

dubois-dance in space

[–] bigbrowncommie69@hexbear.net 23 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They did make an anime about this but of course, they white washed him.

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