Japanese Billionaire Cancels Girlfriend Contest for Moon Trip on SpaceX Starship

The dream of thousands of Japanese women, who wanted to become the first female to go to the moon by winning the "girlfriend contest", appears to have been shattered for now. In 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had announced that he would take six to eight artists with himself around the moon on SpaceX's Starship spacecraft as part of the dearMoon mission. In an attempt to make the mission slightly interesting, Maezawa, on January 12, tweeted that one of the seats on the spacecraft would be reserved for his girlfriend, who would be the winner of a televised contest and a documentary with AbemaTV called "Full Moon Lovers".

The contest invited applications, specifically, from women aged 20 and older who have a "bright personality and [are] always positive." Thousands of women applied to become the girlfriend of the 44-year-old billionaire, who is a father of two. However, taking to Twitter, Maezawa, on January 30, announced the cancellation of the contest. He cited personal reasons behind calling off the contest. Further explaining the reasons behind his decision via tweets, Maezawa said that despite his determination towards the show, he had mixed feelings about his participation.

The contest, when announced on January 12, faced flak on social media, with people saying they viewed "girlfriend contest" as nonsensical to the strides woman have taken in the field of space exploration. Maezawa appreciated women for their participation, adding that he understood he had disappointed the applicants and all the staff from AbemaTV who were involved in the production. He also apologised to everyone for his unfavourable actions.