When East Meets West in Space
But its live-aboard crewmembers will also spend time painting, drawing and developing the art of orbital dance. Japan will host tea ceremonies in its new laboratory, named Kibo, and link its people to space by sponsoring traditional poetry, called haiku.
"Japanese culture is based on Buddhism or Shinto," said Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut who blasted off aboard shuttle Endeavour with six U.S. crewmates early Tuesday on a mission to deliver the first part of Kibo, which in Japanese means "hope."
"We appreciate, we respect, harmony with nature. Nature is not the
object to conquer -- that is a kind of Western philosophy. For us, nature is to live with," Doi told Discovery News in a preflight interview.
Space in the Balance
Bringing Japanese culture to space requires a shift in perspective, one Doi said he will be thinking about after he returns from his second spaceflight. The astronauts will install a storage chamber filled with computers and experiment racks for the main Kibo lab, which is due to arrive on the next shuttle flight in May.
"Nature means Earth itself -- it didn't include space before," Doi said. "Now we include space and we stay in harmony in space."
The technical demands of operating a space station and the deep economic investment made by the 15 member countries overshadow the cultural ramifications of collaboration, but as the station grows, lifestyle and philosophical orientations will become more tangible.
"I think the legacy [of the space station program] will be having brought together that number of international partners that not only contributed technically but brought up hardware. They flew astronauts that all came together and worked on a joint venture that was staggering in its size and complexity," said Endeavour commander Dominic Gorie.
Japan expects its first astronaut to take up residence on the space station to arrive in October. Next year, NASA plans to double the number of live-aboard crewmembers from three to six.
"Culture and education are ideas that have been brought up," Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, Japan's space station program manager, said in an interview. "Art and dancing may be in the near future...astronauts will paint and (do) traditional writing."
Space Cuisine
One aspect of Japanese culture has already been embraced by the orbital space community -- its food. Japan has developed 28 items to add to astronauts' menu choices, said Vickie Kloeris, who manages the space station's food service for NASA.
By the time astronaut Koichi Wakata arrives at the station in October to serve as Japan's first full-time crewmember, the pantry should include entrees, side dishes, condiments, desserts and beverages developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, Kloeris said.
"Eventually they'll be available to other station crewmembers if they should desire them," she added.
The Endeavour crew seems happy to serve as test subjects. The astronauts' menus include several orders of negima, a Japanese beef and scallions dish, okonomi, tofu with hoisin sauce, hot and sour soup and udon noodles to round out their meatloaf, fajitas, mashed potatoes, sausage patties and shrimp cocktails.
"Food is so psychologically important," Kloeris said. "A lot of crewmembers are trying to seek as much variety as possible."
"We are making a kind of small world up there," added Doi. "We are learning how to live together and how to work together."
译文:
当东西方在太空相遇
像国际太空站中许多资深合伙人一样，作为新来者的日本，已于周二将航天飞机“奋力号”发射进入太空，并寄以通过它在太空中的第一块地皮，来完成一系列的生物医学、物理学和生命科学实验。
但是，与此同时，其他成员国的宇航员也将充分利用太空中资源，好好开发一番。日本将在叫Kibo新实验室里举办茶会，通过他们传统的俳句诗，将日本文化带入太空。
“日本的本土文化是以佛教或神教道为基础的，”一位名叫Takao Doi日本的宇航员说道。他和另外六名美国宇航员于周二早上登上航天飞机，乘着“奋力号”飞向太空，来完成实验室建造的早期工程，而这个名为Kibo的实验室，在日文中的意思即为“希望”。
在飞机起飞前，面对《探索新闻》的采访，Doi 说道，“对于自然，我们是怀着一种感激和尊重的心情，我们希望能和自然和谐并存。人类不应该拿自然作为自己征服的对象——这是西方的一种哲学观点。对于我们而言，自然是我们赖以生存的土壤。”
和谐太空
要使日本文化融入太空，看问题的角度需要有一个转变。Doi称，第二次太空之旅反程后他会好好想想这个关于转变的问题。宇航员们会先造一个储藏室，并装好计算机和实验器材，为主实验室Kibo作好相关准备，而这个储藏室预计在五月份的另一航行计划中得以完成。
“自然意味着地球本身——因为在原先自然的概念中并没有包括太空，”Doi说道。“现在我们将太空也看作自然的一部分，因而我们要与太空也保持和谐关系。”
运行一个太空站所须的技术要求以及15个成员国所做的巨大的经济投入，使协力合作这一文化分支黯然失色。但是，随着空间站的规模越来越大，生活方式和哲学观念倾向显得越来越重要。
“奋力号”的总指挥Dominic Gorie 讲到，“在我看来，太空站这一项目的宝贵遗产将会使所有成员国紧紧联系在一起，这不仅在技术上有利于它的发展，而且可以使太空站的硬件得到进一步的改善。它使所有成员国的宇航员走到一起，来共同经营这个项目，而且这个项目的规模在日益扩大，复杂性也日益增加。”
日本方面期待它们的第一位宇航员能在十月份“入住”太空站。明年，美国国家宇航局将所派驻的宇航员从三个增长到六个。
日本的太空站项目主负责人Yoshiyuki Hasegawa在一次访问中谈到：“文化和教育这些观点已经被提出，在不久的将来艺术和舞蹈也会被提上日程 ……宇航员将能在太空仓里画画，写书法。”
太空烹饪
日本文化中食物这个方面已经在太空站中十分欢迎。据美国宇航局餐饮服务部的Vickie Kloeris的消息，日本已经为宇航员的菜单增加了28个之多的选择。
Kloeris说道，等到日本第一位真正的全职常驻宇航员Koichi Wakata于十月份到达太空站时，由日本航空宇宙勘测部（JAXA）主管的食品室将更为丰富，包括主菜，附加菜，调味品，点心和饮料。
另外她还补充道，“最终，所有这些食物，只要其他宇航员需要，都能吃得到。”
“奋力号”的全体成员很高兴自己能参与此次任务。宇航员们的饮食包括一系列食品，有日本牛肉，韭菜，豆腐海鲜沙司，酸辣汤，乌冬面，还有肉类，fajitas，马铃薯泥，香肠小馅饼以及小虾鸡尾酒等等，种类相当丰富。
“食物是人生存之本，”Kloeris说道。“许多宇航员都在试图寻找尽量多的食物品种。”
“我们正在太空中缔造一个小小世界，”Doi补充道，“我们正在学着如何共存、共事。”