ESA says it will now have staff permanently working in Tokyo’s innovation hub X-NIHONBASHI (pronounced “cross nihonbashi”) in central Chiyoda City.
“Our relationship with Japan is built on decades of trust and scientific excellence,” said Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General.
“The establishment of an ESA presence in Japan signals our clear intention to elevate our cooperation with Japan across all domains of space – from Earth observation and planetary defence to science, human and robotic exploration and commercialisation. This will allow us to foster closer ties not only with JAXA but also with Japan’s dynamic and innovative space industry.”
The decision follows an ESA delegation visit to Tokyo during Nihonbashi Space Week in November 2024, which as led by Aschbacher. The visit led to the signing of a Joint Statement between ESA and its Japanese equivalent, JAXA.
Nihonbashi
The actual announcement was made on Wednesday, 28 October 2025 by Eric Morel de Westgaver, ESA Director of Strategy, Legal and External Matters. This was during a keynote speech at Nihonbashi Space Week, marking 50 years of co-operation netween Europe and Japan.
“This is a treasured cooperation, older than ESA itself, dating back to Japan’s cooperation with the European Space Research Organisation, one of ESA’s precursor organisations,” he said.
“Today, ESA and JAXA are together in low Earth orbit with the Earth observation mission EarthCARE, travelling through the Solar System to Mercury with BepiColombo and closing in on the asteroid system Dimorphos with Hera.”
Future areas for joint missions include planetary defence, Earth observation, low Earth orbit and exploration, and space science, said the ESA.
See also: ESA establishes Europe’s first deep-space optical communication link
AloJapan.com