At the end of February 2017 I grew one year older, and on March 20 three and a half years had passed since surgery. My regular progress report is late, not because the illness has worsened, but because there are too many things I want to do.

Almost no change. I completed the forty-fifth chemotherapy cycle. Someone in the chemotherapy room said, "There are not many patients who continue medication this long. You are a veteran." In my case, postoperative pathology showed metastasis, so I understand that we can only suppress recurrence. I can only be grateful that treatment is still continuing.My regular doctor also says he has never heard of someone traveling overseas alone while undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, and encourages me to keep going.

Since the previous report, I made only one trip longer than a week: Norway and the United Kingdom in December 2016. The trigger was a concert, and around it I remembered the winter scenery of the Lofoten Islands. Winter is off season there, the weather is poor, and transport can be disrupted. But if I stayed three nights in one place, I thought I could manage. In the end, it became one of the most memorable stays I have ever had.

From a hill across the water from the rorbu where I stayed.

In Lofoten, a rental-car clerk kindly came out and set my navigation after spotting me, then told me I was going the wrong way. The lodging was a rorbu, a fisherman's-cabin-style hotel, almost empty in the off season. For three quiet nights it snowed or rained almost constantly. The scenes I had hoped to photograph were exactly there before me: gray sky, misty mountains, and ground that was not pure white.

After Norway, I traveled through Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham between concerts, mostly in rain.

"Frozen Stillness - Lofoten"

About half a year after becoming a board member, I gradually became more deeply involved in its activities.. A space elevator is no longer just an elevator-like system from a geostationary satellite; I now think of it as vertical transportation infrastructure connecting planets, moons, asteroids, space, and Earth. Rockets are not realistic as the main path if the future requires enormous daily transport. At present, the only conceivable alternative is the space elevator.

There are still many challenges, especially the cable strength needed on Earth. But Mars, the Moon, and asteroids do not have the same problem, and surrounding technologies can be developed first. Japan is currently at the front, and I believe it is important to take the first step now.

On March 2, 2017, we held a kickoff event for the next experiment, named GSPEC. The discussion involved not only the panel but the audience, and astronauts, creators, engineers, and many others joined us. Afterward, we began forming working groups to develop the project further.

Kickoff event group photo by the Japan Space Elevator Association.

I like music. BABYMETAL changed my recent listening habits and led me back to other rock groups I had ignored for a long time. I went to see Red Hot Chili Peppers because BABYMETAL joined as support act, then Guns N' Roses with Slash and Duff back, again with BABYMETAL. The older bands show hints of age, but also the power of experience, and I enjoyed them enormously.

At the end of March 2017, I resigned as director and became a part-time adviser from April. Since I began building the base of this company at age thirty, I have walked with it for about half my life. From now on, I want to help, however modestly, in building the organization of tomorrow.

That was how the past six months went. Until the next report.
See you!