Japan tycoon Maezawa returns from space with business dreams

By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has returned from space with hopes of new celestial investments. But he wants to first recover, as returning to life with gravity has proved heavier than he’d expected. Maezawa blasted off in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft along with a Russian cosmonaut on Dec. 8, becoming the first self-paying tourist to visit the station since 2009. He returned to earth after spending 12 days at the orbiting outpost, where he took videos of himself clowning around in weightlessness. He says living in space has him appreciating everyday things more: the wind, the changing seasons, smells and sushi.