Earlier this month, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced that he was looking for a girlfriend to take the moon… literally. According to reports, he was looking for a potential partner to join him on a trip around the moon, aboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX. He reportedly made a significant down payment on a flight, which he initially planned to bring artists with him.
If it pushes through, he will become the first person to fly on the company’s commercial Starship rocket.
The trip is part of a documentary that will be aired on Japanese streaming service AbemaTV called Full Moon Lovers. The offer was so tempting that close to 28,000 women applied. To apply, they simply had to meet a few requirements (such as single women aged 20 and over) and answer some questions (like If Maezawa farted in front of you what would you say?).
Application closed on January 17 and Yusaku said he will make a decision by March.
Due to personal reasons, I have informed AbemaTV yesterday with my decision to no longer participate in the matchmaking documentary, hence requested for the cancellation of the show.
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) 前澤友作 (@yousuck2020) January 30, 2020
However, Yusaku is backing out of the promise for personal reasons.
On Twitter, he said that “Due to personal reasons, I have informed AbemaTV yesterday with my decision to no longer participate in the matchmaking documentary, hence requested for the cancellation of the show.”
He added, “Despite my genuine and honest determination toward the show, there was a part of me that still had mixed feelings about my participation. 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.”
He ended the thread by saying, “I understand that I have disappointed many people – the applicants and all the staff from AbemaTV who were involved in the production – and I apologize to everyone for my unfavorable actions. I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
Yusaku is currently the 22nd richest person in Japan with a net worth of $2 billion. He made his fortune with the online fashion retail website Zozotown.
This is not the first time Yusaku has created waves online. Earlier this month, he achieved the record for the most retweets on Twitter when he announced that he was giving away Y1 million each to 1,000 random people who follow and retweet him.
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