Tokyo-based start-up and travel agency team up to offer 1-hour Japan-US space flights

Imagine a future where a trip to Japan takes two hours round-trip – just enough time to work up an appetite for a FamilyMart egg sandwich or famichiki upon landing. The only catch? It’ll cost you an arm and a leg.

If the good folks at Nippon Travel Agency are to be believed, this could soon be a reality. The Japanese travel bureau is hoping to launch a direct service between Tokyo and major US cities like New York with travel times of 60 minutes or less. The vehicle making that trip would be a reusable spacecraft being developed by the matter-of-factly named rocket development start-up Innovative Space Carrier.

According to The Mainichi, the trip aboard the rocket would cost the traveller a cool ¥100 million ($657,000) for a round trip. Launched from an offshore location, the spacecraft used is supposed to be able to connect any two points on Earth within an hour.

Applications for these rather optimistic-sounding space hops are expected to open in fiscal 2026, with the project rolling out in stages. Before the lofty flights take off sometime in the 2030s, offerings for those who sign up will include space food tastings, educational programmes and tours of related facilities on the ground. Full-fledged orbital stays are planned for the 2040s.