Midtown Inc. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Takahiro Nakamura) announces that Takahiro Nakamura, CEO, served as a moderator for a panel discussion at the "5th Lunar Industry Vision Conference (LIVC2026)," held on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at X-NIHONBASHI TOWER in Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
The conference was organized by the Lunar Industry Vision Council (LIVC), with support from the National Space Policy Secretariat, Cabinet Office, and was held in a hybrid format combining in-person and online participation. It brought together stakeholders from government, academia, and industry to share key issues surrounding the social implementation of the lunar industry.
The panel discussion moderated by Nakamura, "When the Era of Human Lunar Missions Arrives," featured the following speakers:
- Naoko Yamazaki (Representative Director, Space Port Japan Association / former astronaut)
- Tomomi Nonaka (Professor, Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University)
- Aiko Nagamatsu (JAXA Space Exploration Innovation Hub Center)
- Tatsuyasu Sato (LIVC Regular Member / Takenaka Corporation)
- Manami Arita (LIVC Regular Member / Sub-Chief Program Manager, Space Exploration Business Domain, Japan Manned Space Systems Corporation)
Premised on an era in which humans reside on the Moon, the session reframed lunar activities from the perspective of the foundations of daily life—habitation, food, health, and ways of working. The discussion was deepened by bringing together insights from a range of standpoints: an astronaut's firsthand experience, research on health management and habitability, construction and engineering, and human spaceflight system operations.