Japanese billionaire cancels search for girlfriend to take on SpaceX trip

The process would have been turned into a reality show

What just happened? A Japanese billionaire has canceled plans to find a girlfriend to take into space on a private SpaceX flight. Yusaku Maezawa, who is estimated to have a $2 billion fortune and is the 22nd richest person in Japan, was to choose a “life partner” in a matchmaking documentary called "Full Moon Lovers."

Back in 2018, Maezawa, who founded Japanese online clothing retailer Zozotown, had been named as the first passenger on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket flight around the moon, which is scheduled to take place in 2023. His original idea was to take several artists on the journey. “They will be asked to create something after they return to Earth. These masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us,” he said, but later changed his plans.

Maezawa had sent out an online invite asking single women over the age of 20 to apply for a “match-making event.” It attracted almost 28,000 applicants, but they’ll be disappointed to learn that the search is now off. The 44-year-old has blamed “personal reasons” for the cancelation of the show.

“Despite my genuine and honest determination toward the show, there was a part of me that still had mixed feelings about my participation,” he tweeted. “To think that 27,722 women, with earnest intentions and courage, had used their precious time to apply makes me feel extremely remorseful to conclude and inform everyone with this selfish decision of mine.”

Last year, Maezawa used his fortune to gain the world’s most retweeted post. He achieved the feat by promising to give 1 million yen (around $9,180) to 100 randomly selected people who retweeted him. The message ended up being retweeted over 4.6 million times.