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Travel

SpaceX billionaire uses tickets to moon to find love in lonely hearts ad

14 Jan, 2020 08:00 PM4 minutes to read
MZ looking for love: Japanese billionaire Maezawa has an unusual proposal for potential suitors. Photo / Supplied; Neven Krcmarek

MZ looking for love: Japanese billionaire Maezawa has an unusual proposal for potential suitors. Photo / Supplied; Neven Krcmarek

NZ Herald

When a suitor courts you with promises to "fly you to the moon" more often than not they are quoting Sinatra than being literal.

However, Japanese billionaire Yusaju Maezawa is promising just that in his search for love.

The tech investor bought all seats on SpaceX's first tourist flight to orbit the moon when it was first announced in September 2018. With the historic voyage slated for 2023, Maezawa is looking for company on the flight. Specifically he is looking for the right woman to share the experience with.

Maezawa is courting potential love interests with the promise of this once-in-a-lifetime journey.

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"Why not be the 'first woman' to travel to the moon?" tweeted the billionaire on Sunday, along with the hashtag #MZ_looking_for_love.

[WANTED!!!]
Why not be the ‘first woman’ to travel to the moon?#MZ_looking_for_love https://t.co/R5VEMXwggl pic.twitter.com/mK6fIJDeiv

— 前澤友作┃お金配りおじさん (@yousuck2020) January 12, 2020

On his website the billionaire admits that though he has "lived exactly as [he's] wanted to up until now," love has evaded him.

"I'm 44 now. As feelings of loneliness and emptiness slowly begin to surge upon me, there's one thing that I think about: Continuing to love one woman."

In order to find the woman of his dreams he has promised a place in the history books as the "first woman" to visit the moon.

While the all male crew of Nasa's Apollo 8 mission were selected for their excellence in aerospace navigation and sciences, it seems someowhat anticlimactic for the "first woman" to orbit another heavenly body to be chosen via a classified ad.

The internet has dubbed it: one small step for romance; one giant leap backwards for feminism.

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The tweet which has had 70 thousand reactions, most of which are mixed.

"Being the 'first woman' to the moon is contingent on a romantic relationship?" tweeted one horrified responder.

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Others suggested that he should run a competition on merit, such as an essay contest for a seat in the space capsule.

"Dear MZ, I am sure that you have the best intentions and I love the #dearMoon project. Hopefully, I will become a successful writer so that one day I can be eligible for your amazing project. But #MZ_looking_for_love is repeating sexist stereotypes. Please don't do it," wrote one concerned voice.

The twitter feed was quickly clogged by more conspiracy theorists "Really concerning that most people here are worried about whether the moon is real as opposed to how creepy this is."

He may be a tech billionaire and a futurist, but Maezawa's views on love are practically 18th century.

If this proposal wasn't creepy enough, the website has a five bullet point list of desired characteristics in a potential beau and a full schedule for his interplanetary matchmaking.
Maezawa is looking for a woman who is – among other things - "aged 20 or over", has a "bright personality and always positive" and above all "wishes for world peace". It could be both the most extraordinary and prosaic lonely hearts ad of all time.

He aims to have found his true love and have the process over by the end of March. Maezawa is a very busy man.

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Would be romantic interests have up until Friday to respond to Maezawa's advert.
However, if the wealthy Japanese heart-throb isn't really your type – there are other ways aboard the spacecraft.

When in September 2018 it was first announced that Maezawa would be the first private customer of SpaceX's moon project, the billionaire said he would be taking a symposium of artists with him on the flight.

The online fashion retailer and owner of Zozotown wants to fund creative types' training and tickets in the hope that it might provide inspiration and out-of-this-world masterpieces.

"These artists will be asked to create something after their return to Earth, and these masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us," Maezawa said at the SpaceX project announcement in 2018 at the company's California HQ.

"I have not decided which artists I'd like to invite, but if possible, I'd like to reach out to top artists that represent our planet from various fields."

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