The Yamabiko (ヤマビコ — echo of the mountain) is named for the Japanese folkloric spirit that answers back, that carries memory of what was said. In Hoshi no Isan, it's the JAXA Heritage Ship — a living museum of Japan's greatest space missions. Every corridor tells a story. Every compartment honors a real spacecraft. Here's how we're designing it.
Mission-Named Compartments
Each major space aboard the Yamabiko is dedicated to a legendary JAXA mission. These aren't inspired-by stories — they're the actual missions, with their actual perseverance.
- Kaguya Observation Lounge — Named after the 2007 lunar orbiter that captured the first HD footage of Earth rising over the Moon. The ship's most beloved space. Crew gather here when they need perspective.
- Hayabusa Engine Bay — Honoring the 2003 probe that limped home on a single engine after seven years. Schematics of the original ion drives on the walls. A shrine to the spacecraft that refused to die.
- Hayabusa Science Laboratory — Kenji Mohri's workspace. Sample containers from asteroid Ryugu. The mission that proved perfectionism is achievable.
- SLIM Navigation Bridge — The command center. Slightly tilted, honoring SLIM's inverted lunar landing in 2024. 100-meter precision. The most accurate navigation suite on any fictional ship.
- Akatsuki Meditation Room — A quiet room at the center of the ship. Named after the mission that waited five years for its second chance at Venus. Where crew come when they need to wait with purpose.
- ISS Heritage Gallery — Portraits, mission patches, and artifacts from every Japanese astronaut who served on the International Space Station. Sora Noguchi maintains this space meticulously.
Environmental Storytelling
Every compartment is designed to tell its mission's story through props, plaques, and artifacts. Players who look carefully will find mission logs, engineering diagrams, and personal items that connect the ship's present to its real-world history. The ship doesn't lecture — it remembers.
FPS Exploration First
Players walk every deck in first person. No cutscenes for discovery — you find the stories by exploring. Visual novel conversations happen in specific rooms. Trust unlocks new spaces. The ship reveals itself to those who take time to look.
Explore the full deck layout or read about the missions that built the ship.
The Yamabiko JAXA Missions Back to Dev Journal