this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2025

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266

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 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days 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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[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 82 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

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

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 61 points 4 days ago

Nah that's actually moderation for a Japanese boomer salaryman

[–] hellinkilla@hexbear.net 35 points 4 days 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?

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days ago

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

[–] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That has to be the most stressed women in existence

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[–] RNAi@hexbear.net 35 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

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

[–] happybadger@hexbear.net 46 points 4 days 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.

[–] RNAi@hexbear.net 39 points 4 days ago

The first rule of biology is error bars

[–] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 12 points 4 days ago

supplements aren't regulated in the states, could be literal poison

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[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 35 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 30 points 4 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] Cruxifux@feddit.nl 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think they probably put a lot more bullshit into cigarettes than they used to.

[–] WizardOfLoneliness@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days ago (1 children)

i mean nicotine both hardens your arteries and constricts your blood vessels so it tracks without that

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[–] TheWolfOfSouthEnd@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 4 days ago

I work with someone who will smoke 20 per day. He’ll smoke 2 on the bounce regularly.

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 56 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days 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 4 days 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 4 days ago

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

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 32 points 4 days ago (1 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. 🤷

[–] gingerbrat@hexbear.net 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Space sickness is nasty, but I'm pretty sure he'd be puking bc of the withdrawl as well as the space sickness

[–] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 15 points 4 days ago

But was there a cosmonaut taking distance, velocity, and mass measurements to see if the human diaphragm produces enough force while projectile vomiting to propel a human being in zero gravity?

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 35 points 4 days 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 4 days ago (2 children)

Still alive at 82

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 27 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 14 points 4 days ago

[–] TheLastHero@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days 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 4 days ago

All the asbestos filters out the tar

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[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 29 points 4 days ago (1 children)

takes a drag from cigarette

"Fuck space."

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 17 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

obama-spike see-you-space-cowboy

[–] BeamBrain@hexbear.net 36 points 4 days ago (1 children)

smh yet another victim of communism

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 41 points 4 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] BoxedFenders@hexbear.net 34 points 4 days 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 4 days ago (1 children)

Four packs a day?!? Jesus Christ.

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 33 points 4 days 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 4 days 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 4 days ago

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

[–] EstraDoll@hexbear.net 28 points 4 days ago

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

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 33 points 4 days ago

dubois-dance in space

[–] AstroStelar@hexbear.net 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The rocket that launched him into space:

Sony-et Union kelly

[–] forcefemjdwon@hexbear.net 20 points 4 days 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.

[–] bigbrowncommie69@hexbear.net 23 points 4 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days ago

Damn Miyazaki fell off.

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[–] anindefinitearticle@hexbear.net 18 points 4 days 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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[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 15 points 4 days 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.

[–] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days ago

Dudes rock

[–] Kuori@hexbear.net 13 points 4 days 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 4 days ago (2 children)

As in 120 cigarettes a day?

[–] javiwhite@feddit.uk 6 points 4 days ago (7 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!

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[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

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

For some reason first thing i thought after seeing his photo was Nanba Mutta from Space Brothers but it was only vague.

[–] nothx@hexbear.net 12 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

king shit

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