Yusaku Maezawa became the first space tourist to visit the International Space Station since 2009 and reviewed a volume of his favourite manga Space Brothers. The manga is about two siblings who are astronauts, and it was made into an anime TV series, an anime movie, and a live-action movie.

Maezawa wanted to bring all forty volumes of Space Brothers but had to settle for only one, volume 27, due to the concerns of overloading the payload.

The story of that volume, which was set on the ISS, made a huge impact on Maezawa, explaining why he wanted to read it on, to a point where he began recounting the manga’s story and started weeping.

“I can cry just by remembering this one scene,” he said. “It’s amazing that manga can do that.”

A five minute Youtube video features the billionaire reminiscing about the volume and how it affected him. “I cannot recommend this manga enough,” Maezawa said, adding that the manga was suitable for even kids.

46-year-old Maezawa is the founder of the Japanese internet fashion retail site Zozotown. Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at $1.9 billion.

When asked about claims that he spent more than $80 million for a 12-day mission, Maezawa said he couldn’t reveal the contract number but claimed he paid “pretty much” that amount.

Deflecting all criticisms for his decision to spend money on his space travel instead of using it for the wellbeing of Earth, Maezawa admitted the “amazing” experience was worth it. And he made the decision inspired by the manga Space Brothers by Chuya Koyama.

Aside from reviewing a manga he also showed around the space station and did a PR stunt for Uber Eats- delivering a bag filled with ready-to-eat canned Japanese dishes in the Soyuz spacecraft among his Expedition 66 crewmates.

Source: Kotaku, Space.com, AP news