marked the first flight of a person of Japanese nationality in space as well as the first commercially sponsored and funded spaceflight of an individual in history. Akiyama was also the first journalist to give live reports from space. Various reports have cited a flight cost paid by TBS as between and . The company reportedly lost on the deal. TV reports Akiyama broke stereotypes since he was not an athletic trained astronaut, scientist nor engineer. Thus Akiyama was called the first antihero in space for being just an ordinary civilian. As a TV reporter, Akiyama made comments during his nightly live broadcasts in the Mir: The first words of Akiyama seconds after the Soyuz TM-11 reached orbit were: Studying the frogs' behavior in the zero-g environment was an experiment for Japanese schoolchildren. During training he quit smoking four-pack-a-day cigarettes. Before liftoff when asked what he looked forward to most upon his return to Earth he said: Akiyama described his struggles such as space sickness, need for cigarettes, his brain was "floating around in my head" and "I wish I had brought along some natto,". Meanwhile Akiyama worried that his 2 children spent too much time watching TV. During a radio broadcast he said "Please tell Ken-ken and Naoko to study,". His wife Kyoko answered "The children are doing fine," "Please try to relax." Initially the TBS TV viewership was high, but by midweek it declined to a bit above normal. Later career Akiyama returned to TBS after completing his spaceflight and became deputy director of the TBS News Division. He retired from TBS in 1995, because he disagreed with the active commercialization of television. In April 1991, he shot a film, with a group of Japanese journalists, about the state of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. From January 1996, he engaged in organic farming with rice and mushrooms in the Abukuma mountains in the town Takine, near Tamura, Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture. He also wrote books and give lectures focusing on environmental issues. In March 2011, he was personally affected by the Fukushima disaster and was forced to abandon his farm. On 1 November 2011, he became a professor of agriculture at the Faculty of Arts, Kyoto University of Art and Design. Personal life Akiyama was married to Kyoko Akiyama, and the couple had a son and a daughter. He left his family in Tokyo to go farm. They divorced