Japan has emerged as a leading space-faring nation over the past few decades. A renowned world leader in high technology, the country has drawn from its expertise in key areas such as robotics to mark its place among elite space-faring nations.
Notably, unlike other major players like the United States, China and Russia, Japan has achieved its status while staying within the bounds of what constitutes "peaceful uses of outer space" as per the Outer Space Treaty (OST) of 1967. Japan initially had three institutions handling aerospace activities — the Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences, the National Space Development Agency and the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan. However, the consolidation of the three entities to form the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2003 was a landmark moment in the nation's emergence as a major space power.
Space research in Japan worked under strict constraints in the immediate years following its defeat in World War II. As per the terms of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, the country was forbidden from developing aviation and aerospace technologies. Such restrictions prevented Japan from getting a headway in developing indigenous space technologies, even though it was the fourth nation to successfully launch a satellite into orbit after the U.S., Soviet Union and France.