Japanese Woman in Space

The second female Japanese astronaut has now gone into space and is currently on the International Space Station. Meanwhile, her husband is down Earthside, taking care of their daughter and their home. It is not the space trip that raises the most interest in Japan, but the roles of this couple. Japan has a very traditional society, where men are still expected to be the bread winner of the family and many mothers stay at home, raising the children. While I believe that I take care of small pups much better than the pups' father would, I still think it is interesting to see traditional roles of men and women being questioned.

Of course, among dogs, it is always the females who rule, while caring for the pups, while the traditional role of humans has been that men has ruled. Gender equality thus seem more important among humans than among dogs.

This story is also interesting, because it shows that space travel has become ordinary enough that the space trip in itself does not have to be the most important news when there are reports on an astronaut. This is actually good news for all of us who are interested in space exploration, because it shows that space exploration is becoming a more common thing. Even though there may be less to read about the actual space journey, there would be more space journeys to read about.