JAXA Successfully Lands Space Probe on Asteroid

This week, as we released our most recent book ROBOT PLANET- a story about a robotic rover on Mars, another rover-laden space probe made headlines elsewhere. Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that it has successfully landed its Hayabusa 2 probe on the asteroid known as Ryugu The potato-shaped asteroid is said to be three hundred kilometers away from earth. The Hayabusa 2 is expected to fire an impactor blast into the surface to collect samples before lifting off and returning to Earth in 2020. The probe is said to be equipped with two tiny MINERVA-II rover robots as well as the 10-kilogram French-German observation robot  MASCOT that will scan the surface temperatures and measure the magnetic fields. While the mission itself has had issues aligning with Earth, it is now streaming data and by many accounts, a success. 

We at American Mishima wish to congratulate the Hayabusa 2 Mission team on their recent achievement. おめでとう ございます!

Japan Set to Recognize Ainu People

Japan's long-suffering Ainu people are finally getting their due as Japanese lawmakers passed a bill that recognizes the ethnic minority as an Indigenous People. The Ainu who mostly live in Hokkaido has long been subject to oppressive measures of discrimination and forced assimilation going back to the start of the Meiji Era. While an earlier bill passed in 1997 to preserve the Ainu culture, many living Ainu has lost must of their cultural traditions. This new bill is aimed at granting the Ainu more rights and respect. The government of Japan further plans to build a National Ainu Museum in Shiaroi, Hokkaido. With the languages and customs of indigenous people's under threat around the world, this is a long overdue step in the right direction.  

Did He Or Didn't He? What Shinzo Abe Won't Say

Earlier this past week, the Asahi Shimbun reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. What is most curious is that this has been touted by the Trump Regime while the Prime Minister has downplayed this in Japan. What is known is that he did indeed write the Nobel Committee a five-page document praising Trump's efforts for peace with North Korea. What's troubling is that PM Abe's own spokesman has declined to say whether or not he nominated Trump for the coveted Peace Prize. Abe himself will neither confirm nor deny this. Rather, he made some vague blanket statement that the Nobel Committee does not disclose recommenders and nominees for fifty years. Thus Abe declines to comment. It is likely that PM Abe has been strong-armed by Donald Trump who has been obsessed with acquiring the Nobel Peace Prize for the sole purpose of equating himself with his predecessor Barrack Obama who won the Nobel Peace Prize just before taking office as 44th President of the United States. It should be further be noted, that if indeed he did in fact nominated Trump at his behest, he is embarrassed to have done so and looks to history to judge him in fifty years. We have long speculated that Shinzo Abe is playing Trump. It is no secret that Abe's wife loathes Trump and pretends to not speak English when they meet. In light of Abe's slow military buildup, it should be noted that he has been angling to strip away elements of Japan's Post War Constitution prohibiting Japan from any offensive role or capability to fight a future war. Let's hope Abe hasn't sold his soul to a conman and a bully to defend Japan and her long term security interests. 

New American Mishima Book Release

We are proud to announce our latest book release this week of our new Science Fiction Suspense Thriller Robot Planet. It is our first independently published book in over two years and our first entry for 2019 now available on Paperback and Kindle Formats.

In preparation for the first manned mission to Mars, NASA’s latest robotic rover, Mars Prospector has been sent to the Red Planet to survey potential landing zones. But when something unsettling was captured by the rover’s camera, it triggers a series of disturbing events for Dr. Wayne Parsons and his small JPL rover team placing both the team and their lives in jeopardy. American Mishima author Louis Edward Rosas presents this short story of intrigue, science, and a sinister campaign to suppress the truth that will place into question if we are truly alone in the universe.

 To order your copy, please click on this link for

 ROBOT PLANET

Thank you!

Until the Very End: Heisei Emperor Visits Memorial for Civilian Sailors Lost During War

Seen here in this Mainichi.JP photo are the outgoing Imperial couple Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko paying their respects to a Memorial dedicated to the 60,000 civilian sailors who were pressed into service by the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII. The Heisei Emperor who Abdicates this April arrived to present prayers and white chrysanthemums to offer these lost sailors of which 30,000 of them were in their teens. With the Combined Fleet on the run after the Battle of Midway, there were few naval vessels to protect these civilian ships which were forced to carry supplies and personnel. This is the Imperial couple's eighth visit to the memorial since it was erected in 1971. Dutiful until the end, the Heisei Emperor has worked tirelessly to heal the wounds of the Showa Era and has never wavered. It is said that in a press conference in December 2015 he said this: "In those days, Japan lacked command of the air, and no battleships were available to escort the transport vessels. It gives me great pain to think of the feelings of those sailors who were forced to engage in such transport operations under those conditions." We at American Mishima will miss this kind gentile Emperor. We thank him and Empress Michiko for their lifetime efforts to promote peace.

Meteors for the Masses?

Seen here in this Kyodo photo is an Epsilon 4 rocket blasting off into space from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kimotsuki, Kagoshima Prefecture. According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the rocket carried seven small satellites from the Tokyo startup ALE Co LTD. These micro-satellites carry up to four hundred tiny balls set to be released at 500km above the Earth to create an artificial meteor shower. ALE Co LTD plans to demonstrate this over Hiroshima sometime in the Spring of 2020. If successful, you'll have meteor showers on demand. No word on how much this will cost or how commercially viable this venture could be. ALE claims these artificial meteor showers (provided the weather cooperates) will be visible by millions. Naturally, we could think of better ways to use this technology, but we shall see how this works out, or not.

Oshugatsu 2019 in Little Tokyo's Koyasan Temple.

あけまして おめでとう ございます! Happy New Year of the Boar! We hope that everyone is off to a good start. Ours started as it has for the last nine years by participating in the Oshugatsu ceremony at the Koyasan Temple in Little Tokyo. There's much we could say but rather than ramble on here, we will let the pictures do the talking. Please enjoy!