"The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is among the six largest national space agencies in the world, along with Chinas CNSA, USs NASA, and Russias Roscosmos. JAXAs budget is more than $1 billion USD - bigger than France or Germany individually, and more than that of Italy, India, Canada, and the UK combined. And yet, Japans significant contributions have largely been absent in the history of space exploration, and space exploration largely absent in the history of technology in Japan. The Island and the Stars corrects this conspicuous oversight. Through meticulous archival research in Japanese and anglophone archives, Subodhana Wijeyeratne examines the history of Japans space exploration efforts over nearly a century. Wijeyeratne traces the evolution of Japans space program from its early origins in the 1920s, through the postwar period of rapid technological innovation, to the consolidation of its various institutional elements into JAXA in 2003. He situates Japans space programs within the broader history of the countrys postwar recovery, economic growth, and cultural identity, while also considering their place within global trends in space exploration. Through this narrative, Wijeyeratne not only illuminates Japans centrality to the global history of science and technology, but also offers insights into the future of global space exploration, emphasizing the importance of diverse voices and perspectives in the quest to understand our place in the cosmos"-- Provided by publisher.