FIVE THINGS ABOUT YUSAKU MAEZAWA

1 WHO IS HE?

Maezawa, 42, is not only a highprofile entrepreneur specializing in online retail and a worldfamous art collector, but he is also set to be SpaceX’s first paying tourist to take a trip around the moon. Maezawa’s weeklong journey is tentatively scheduled for 2023. It was also announced Tuesday that for an undisclosed sum he had purchased all the seats aboard SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket. He is 18th on Forbes’s 2018 list of Japan’s 50 richest people.

2 HIS REASON FOR THE TRIP

“Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the moon,” he said during a news conference in California. “Just staring at the moon filled my imagination. It’s always there and has continued to inspire humanity.”

3 INSPIRED

Last year he dropped more than US$110 million on a painting by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. As he was looking at the painting, “I thought, what if Basquiat had gone to space and had seen the moon up close or saw the earth in full view? What wonderful masterpiece would he have created?”

4 GRAND PLAN

The trip is all part of Maezawa’s grand project, which he has named Dear Moon. His plan is to bring with him six to eight artists from various disciplines, with the goal that upon their return to Earth they create works inspired by the experience. In a video promoting Dear Moon, aptly set to Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune, the project is described as “aweinspiring.” Maezawa said his team of artists will be recruited from around the world, adding, “If you should hear from me, please say yes and accept my invitation.”

5 SHARING THE JOY

“I did not want to have such a fantastic experience by myself, he said Tuesday. “I don’t like being alone. I want to share these experiences and things with as many people as possible.”