For a treat, how about looking at what a real Japanese bill looks like. Story below!

Rather surprisingly early, the bill (properly called 内閣府設置法等の一部を改正する法律案) to enact the pertinent points of the 2008 Basic Law was sent to the Diet on February 14, with optimists considering that as it is tied to this year’s General Space Activities Budget request, it will be passed. My sources in the SHSP put the chances at 50/50 and Matsui Sensei is hopeful- tying the reforms to (a) the QZSS project and (b) the budget request, were critical parts of the Expert’s Committee in the SHSP last year to finally get the business sorted. Very practical, for a very tricky project that has gone through three years of twists and turns.

Understandably the Japanese media focused on a summary of the main points; for example here the Sankei, while the Mainichi also thought it prudent to add a 解説 (explanation) for the public. The Yomiuri and Nikkei also managed to capture this critical event for the future of Asia’s space development and competition. I have a much more detailed academic article coming out later in the year, but here is a summary of something I filed on the bill.

Space Bill Submitted to Japanese Diet

A bill to fundamentally restructure the control of Japan’s space program and remove the restriction on the nation’s main space agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from developing military space programs, was submitted to Japan’s lower house, the House of Representatives, Feb. 14.

The Cabinet Office Restructuring and Reform Law will enable the Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office to set up a Space Strategy Office that is headed by the Japanese Prime Minister while scrapping the Space Activities Commission, which currently controls JAXA. The Strategy Office  will assume control of all of Japan’s space planning, program and budget control, including that of JAXA through a new Strategic Space Committee set up in the Office, also chaired by the Prime Minister, said Takafumi Matsui, Emeritus Professor of Tokyo University and chairman of the advisory committee that proposed the law.

A key part of the bill changes JAXA’s Law of 2003, when the agency was established, which, in Article 4 (Objectives of the Agency), contains the stipulation that JAXA’s space programs be “for peaceful purposes only.” The new bill brings JAXA’s law into line with the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which allows for the nonagressive military use of space, and Japan’s Space Basic Law Article 14: “The state shall take the necessary measures to promote space development and use to endure international peace and security as well as to contribute to the national security of Japan.”

Matsui said Feb. 17 that the bill fulfills a critical stipulation of the Space Basic Law of 2008, which mandated that policy, programmatic and budgeting control of Japan’s space programs, which are funded by a number of ministries, be assumed by the Cabinet Office. Currently JAXA accounts for about 60% of Japan’s space budget, and is controlled by SAC; both are part of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). JAXA’s budget and programs will now also be controlled by the Cabinet Office’s Space Strategy Office, he said.

Matsui said that the bill should come into law by the end of this fiscal year, March 31, so the Cabinet Office can immediately start setting up the new office. Typically bills approved by the lower house in Japan are rubber stamped by the upper house, the House of Councilors, he said.

Here is the Yomiuri’s coverage: