The revolution- or perhaps evolution- is at hand! After a week of waiting by this author about actually who will be in charge of Japan’s new era of space policy making, the names have finally been published.

On Friday, the Cabinet Office, now in charge of Japan’s new space policy structure following the June 20 passing of the law that allowed the Cabinet Office to take control of Japanese space policy, published the names of the all-important Space Policy Commission (宇宙政策委員会).

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda flanked by State Minister for Space Motohisa Furukawa and Takeo Kawamura, who started the whole process of reforming Japan’s space policy, unveils the official Kanban for the Space Strategy Office

The Space Policy Commission consists of seven members that will function as the highest consultative body to the space and prime minister on program authorization, budget and schedule, according to according to Takafumi Matsui, Emeritus Professor at The University of Tokyo, and chief architect of the establishment of the new office, who is also a member.

The  Commission is to be chaired by Yoshiyuki Kasai, former chairman of Central Japan Railway Company, and fellow key members of the  “Mk.II” Experts Committee of the Strategic Headquarters for Space Policy (SHSP) which was built on the original May 2010 Matsui Report.

Joining the Commission  are Hiroshi Yamakawa, Secretary-General of the SHSP,   Shinichi Nakasuka, a University of Tokyo scientist and the father of Japan’s university-led microsatellite program, and Setusko Aoki, Professor of Policy Management at Keio University, a leading expert on space law, and a key member of the LDP-era SHSP that got so close to developing Japan’s Space Activities Act in 2009.

The move comes rapidly after the Cabinet Office  July 12 set up the Space Strategy Office, the new executive body that will assume control of the nation’s space programs, headed by current State Minister for Space Development Motohisa Furukawa.

The Space Strategy Office replaces a mix of institutions that controlled various parts of Japan’s space program, most notably the Space Activities Commission (SAC), a former committee in the Ministry of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), that formerly controlled the budget and program planning of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan’s main space development agency that absorbs about 60% of the nation’s national space budget.

The Space Strategy Office’s formal establishment comes just weeks after the Upper House of Japan’s Diet June 20 passed a raft of legislation to set up the office, abolish SAC, and change JAXA’s founding law to allow it to develop military space programs in line with international norms under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, among other things, Matsui said July 13.

Matsui said the Space Strategy Office will become functional by the end of July in time for taking control of Japan’s annual space budget request.

“Everything is as I, we planned. We have to get it functional by in time for the budget, negotiations with the Ministry of Finance,” Matsui said.