Saw that, there was no thread for this topic. So, I am shamelessly lifting pics and info posted on flightglobal by Rob Coppinger and novosti-kosmonavtiki by the user 'frigate'
They could take the Chinese approach and license the tech from someone else. I wonder how much SpaceX or Boeing might charge to fix them up with all they'd need to build a modified Dragon or CST-100? It might come out cheaper and faster in the long run.
I wonder what an appropriate name for this vehicle would be?
Oh dear, I'd forgotten about ITAR. Or rather, I hadn't considered that Japan would be on the list of places we couldn't do that kind of transfer with. I thought we were best buds.
"Does Japan even need its own manned spacecraft at this point? Wouldn't it just be cheaper to ride with the Russians or perhaps commercial?"It may be political. China has their own manned launch capability so maybe Japan feels they should show that they can do it as well.